Ode to Sadness
Ode to Sadness - form Summary
Ode as Defiant Barrier
This poem is an ode that treats its form as a defensive speech: the speaker directly addresses "Sadness" as an intruder and declares a home protected by poetic vocation. The repeated prohibitions and commanding voice create a ritualized threshold, expelling grief through violent, comic, and regenerative images. The closing promise to bury sadness "beneath the springtime of an apple tree" turns rejection into a vow of renewal.
Read Complete AnalysesSadness, scarab with seven crippled feet, spiderweb egg, scramble-brained rat, bitch's skeleton: No entry here. Don't come in. Go away. Go back south with your umbrella, go back north with your serpent's teeth. A poet lives here. No sadness may cross this threshold. Through these windows comes the breath of the world, fresh red roses, flags embroidered with the victories of the people. No. No entry. Flap your bat's wings, I will trample the feathers that fall from your mantle, I will sweep the bits and pieces of your carcass to the four corners of the wind, I will wring your neck, I will stitch your eyelids shut, I will sew your shroud, sadness, and bury your rodent bones beneath the springtime of an apple tree.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.