Gay Chaps at the Bar
Gay Chaps at the Bar - meaning Summary
Polished Performance, Fragile Interior
Brooks portrays a circle of men who have mastered social polish: witty manners, flirtation, and controlled gaiety. Their skills serve pleasure and performance, not solitude or crisis. The poem contrasts crafted social language with an absence of instruction for inner endurance or mourning. Ultimately it observes that charm and bravado cannot teach how to be isolated or how to confront death, leaving emotional vulnerability exposed.
Read Complete AnalysesWe knew how to order. Just the dash Necessary. The length of gaiety in good taste. Whether the raillery should be slightly iced And given green, or served up hot and lush. And we knew beautifully how to give to women The summer spread, the tropics of our love. When to persist, or hold a hunger off. Knew white speech. How to make a look an omen. But nothing ever taught us to be islands. And smart, athletic language for this hour Was not in the curriculum. No stout Lesson showed how to chat with death. We brought No brass fortissimo, among our talents, To holler down the lions in this air.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.