Could I outwear my present state of woe...
Could I outwear my present state of woe... - meaning Summary
Renewal Imagined, Thwarted
The speaker imagines escaping present grief by passing through a brief winter and emerging renewed in spring, like a snake shedding an old skin into beauty and song. They say they would let tears fall if full renewal were possible, but an inner reserve restrains them. The poem ends with a mingled image of frozen tears partly melted by a lingering vital warmth, suggesting incomplete healing and wary hope.
Read Complete AnalysesCould I outwear my present state of woe With one brief winter, and indue i’ the spring Hues of fresh youth, and mightily outgrow The wan dark coil of faded suffering— Forth in the pride of beauty issuing A sheeny snake, the light of vernal bowers, Moving his crest to all sweet plots of flowers And watered vallies where the young birds sing; Could I thus hope my lost delights renewing, I straightly would commend the tears to creep From my charged lids; but inwardly I weep: Some vital heat as yet my heart is wooing: This to itself hath drawn the frozen rain From my cold eyes and melted it again.
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