They Called Me to the Window, for
poem 628
They Called Me to the Window, for - meaning Summary
Perception Reshaped by Spectacle
The speaker is summoned to a window at sunset and watches a series of sudden, dreamlike transformations. A farm with opal cattle appears, then dissolves into a vast sea with colossal ships, and finally vanishes entirely when the showman rubs the view away. The poem presents perception as unstable and mediated, exploring how imagination, spectacle, or an outside hand can reshape and erase experience in an instant.
Read Complete AnalysesThey called me to the Window, for ‘Twas Sunset Some one said I only saw a Sapphire Farm And just a Single Herd Of Opal Cattle feeding far Upon so vain a Hill As even while I looked dissolved Nor Cattle were nor Soil But in their stead a Sea displayed And Ships of such a size As Crew of Mountains could afford And Decks to seat the skies This too the Showman rubbed away And when I looked again Nor Farm nor Opal Herd was there Nor Mediterranean
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