Silence - pipTalk Forums

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

Critical Analysis #1

Silence

patchoulipumpkin
Member

since 2000-01-01

Posts 196
Bermuda

0 posted 2000-03-19 12:44 PM

Silence
Open
Like the door
To a childhood closet

The promise
To be taken away
Quietly
For just a little while

jbouder
Member Elite

since 1999-09-18

Posts 2534
Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash

1 posted 2000-03-19 09:01 PM

Patch:

There are quite a few unspokens here that, I think, are tied to the analogy to a childhood closet.  I think the key to understanding this poem is figuring out what an open closet, and the silence within, would mean to a small child.

I tried to remember why I did this sort of thing as a child and all I could recall was going into a closet for some privacy ... to be inaccessible.  I imagine other children may see the closet as a hiding place for safety, but this type of childhood is far removed from my own.

I think this poem is referring to the former: The silence in the poem is seen as a place of pleasant, temporary isolation from everything and everybody.

At first reading I thought this may have been overly vague but I think there are at least two convincing meanings that can be reached easily enough with a little bit of thought.  Good work.

Jim

haze
Senior Member

since 1999-11-03

Posts 528
Bethlehem, PA USA

2 posted 2000-03-20 04:29 AM

Hi patch...

I (unlike JBouder) donot need to divine your meaning to the letter. It is not a puzzle to me...If it makes me feel something (if it stirs me to thought, startles me, etc.) it's successful.

This piece of so few words speaks volumes to me.

GRAND KUDOS!

Tony Di Bart
Member

since 2000-01-26

Posts 160
Toronto, Canada

3 posted 2000-03-21 08:09 PM

Hey Patch

You havn't posted in awhile. I have to agree with Haze on this one as far as making me feel something.

It is common to consider silence more as closing than opening. I like the paradox of opening silence.

I also agree with J interpretion of the poem as a whole.

Thanks Patch

See ya

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.