Reprise
Reprise - meaning Summary
Freshness of Old Phrases
Nash gently mocks stock romantic phrases while insisting they regain power in the presence of a true beloved. The speaker lists conventional similes and tropes only to say that when looking at the loved one those worn lines feel fresh and meaningful again. The poem ends by suggesting the beloved seems lifted from high art, transforming clichés into something alive and intimate.
Read Complete AnalysesGeniuses of countless nations Have told their love for generations Till all their memorable phrases Are common as goldenrod or daisies. Their girls have glimmered like the moon, Or shimmered like a summer moon, Stood like a lily, fled like a fawn, Now the sunset, now the dawn, Here the princess in the tower There the sweet forbidden flower. Darling, when I look at you Every aged phrase is new, And there are moments when it seems I've married one of Shakespeare's dreams.
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