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Need help with a line from poem
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Need help with a line from poem |
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Salooma Senior Member
since 2000-01-28
Posts 781 |
I'm having trouble understanding a line in Ralph Waldo Emmerson's The Past. The line is "Flies- to the admanatine door." Any suggestions? Thanks! Salma |
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jenni Member
since 1999-09-11
Posts 478Washington D.C. |
salma-- i took a look at the poem, i think all emerson is saying there is that the adamantine door of the Past "flies to" or shuts, closes in a rather abrupt manner (to be "bolted down forevermore" in the next line). adamantine, of course, means hard or impenetrable. "flies-to" is kind of an awkward construction, a hyphenated verb, but he does a similar thing later in the poem with "new-face" as a verb as well. it's an awkward line, too, because the normal subject/verb order is reversed. if you substitute "closes" or "closes now" for "flies-to" in that line, it'll make more sense (but won't be nearly as good as emerson's way, lol). if you look at this progression -- The adamantine door closes Bolted down forevermore. Closes now, the adamantine door, Bolted down forevermore. Flies-to the adamantine door Bolted down forevermore. -- you can see that emerson's use of "flies-to" gives the closing of the door of the Past an abrupt or sudden quality while perfectly keeping his rythym, which is actually a pretty neat trick once you "see" it (it took me several reads, though, lol). hope this helps. are you reading the poem for a class, or just for fun? jenni p.s.: i had a hard time finding the poem. here's the whole thing, for anyone who cares: "The Past" (Ralph Waldo Emerson) The debt is paid, The verdict said, The Furies laid, The plague is stayed. All fortunes made; Turn the key and bolt the door, Sweet is death forevermore. Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin, Nor murdering hate, can enter in. All is now secure and fast; Not the gods can shake the Past; Flies-to the adamantine door Bolted down forevermore. None can reënter there,-- No thief so politic, No Satan with a royal trick Steal in by window, chink, or hole, To bind or unbind, add what lacked, Insert a leaf, or forge a name, New-face or finish what is packed, Alter or mend eternal Fact. |
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Salooma Senior Member
since 2000-01-28
Posts 781 |
Thanks sooo much...sorry it gave you a hard time though, I could have given you the whole thing. I'm reading it kinda for a class and for fun. I am writing a play based on that poem for a creative writing class and that line always gave me a hard time. I always thought that's what it should mean, but wanted to double-check...thanks again! Salma "Not all the answers lie within your realm or mine, they lie within the borders." |
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