10/9 CAI Lab Assignment

Read “Luke Havergal” by Edwin Arlington Robinson, linked on your course page. Also Print out a copy of the poem.

Answer fully each of the following questions on a separate sheet.

1. List everything you know about Luke.
There is a fiery night in his eyes, a kiss flames on his forehead that blinds him to the way he must go, if he trusts her she will call.

2. Then list essential information you wish you knew but don’t.
I wish I knew who at what Western Gate he was to travel to, who is speaking to Luke, and who "she" is. Who has kissed his forehead, and why has it blinded him? Why does he have to trust this woman in order for her to call? And to whom is she calling? Luke?

3. How many characters are in the poem?
I interpret it to be three characters. Luke, the speaker/poet, and the "she"

4. What do you find out about each character?
Luke is clearly lacking direction or clarity on appropriate action, which we learn from the speaker/poet. This, however, might also simply be the bias of the speaker/poet, who feels that Luke must go to the Western Gate and trust that "she" will call. We also learn that the speaker/poet is dead, with the line "out of the grave." We know almost nothing about the "she" character, though I question whether the "she" might also be the speaker, and speaking in a third person, disembodied.

5. Point out the references to time & seasons.
I believe "crimson vines" is a reference to fall, as many varietals change color in the fall from green to red. However, it seems to be early fall, as the leaves move in the wind, but do not fall, though winds are "tearing them away." This poem occurs at night as "there is no dawn in eastern skies." Though, it may be early night, dusk almost as it says "western glooms are gathering." So it might be shortly after sunset, as the sky is darkening, and gloom seems to spread from the West horizon.

6. What is their significance?
Having the poem occur on what feels like a cold fall night gives the poem a very eery feeling. Additionally, as I am about to reference below, this poem refers to death, and Fall is the period of dying off before the full death of Winter. Sunset also walks this line, as it is not truly "alive" in the sense of daylight, yet not fully dark.

7. How do you interpret “the western gate”?
I just realized that I think that "the western gate" is death. The sun sets in the West, the "death" of the sun. The speaker/poet references coming out of the grave, and how if he goes in that direction, he will be "called."

8. Who is the poem’s speaker? What specific details does the poet reveal about the speaker?
I am back to the idea that the speaker is also the "she" disembodied. The way in which the speaker seems to have a sense of omniscience leads me to believe that it is not a live person, but someone who has more of a sense of the beyond.

9. What does the speaker ask Luke to do?
I believe the speaker ias asking Luke to die.

10. Would you advise Luke Havergal to follow the speaker’s advice? Why or why not?
I would actually, and what changed my mind was the line "I come to quench the kiss that flames upon your forehead" and how "the western glooms are gathering" seems to reference his eyes. I originally pictured Luke as a healthy, virile man, but I now question if he is in fact an ailing person, and this poem is a way of saying to give up, and go to the "she" who may be a long lost love.

11. Note the places where the poem rhymes, both internally & at the end of lines.
The poem follows an AABBCCAA rhyme scheme at the end of each line. The poem also has a very strong internal rhyme to it, but no syllables rhyme specifically, but it seems to me that the poet uses a lot of assonance and alliteration to create a strong rhythm.

12. What is the poem’s tone?
It originally struck me as eerie, but it seems to me to be a message of advice. Almost one of hope.

13. How do rhyme patterns contribute to the tone?
It creates a very musical poem. Again, as my opinion is that the speaker is dead or disembodied, it creates a somewhat magical or ethereal feeling.


Poem in Response:

No beauty in death -
kind words spoken in memory
become stone
placed on earth under shaded
cypress trees

Songs of loss
replaced by the tuneless caw
of terribly fat crows
bouncing along the roots
and nerves, raw

Scared of the middle place
between life and unknown
I hope there's someone
who will take care of me, for
when we die, we're truly gone