Like the pale damsel from the fairy tale,
Who woke to bruises on the twentieth mattress
From a mere pea, her skin is deathly frail;
So too her twilight hopes. A genuine princess,
She spends the day half-sleeping in her tower,
And nightly scans for knightly rescuers.
Her dreams are creatures of the midnight hour,
And die before she knows to make them hers.
I am no hero riding from the East
To rescue her. I saw her plight and offered
A hand that she has clasped and not released;
For shame, I hide a right hand that is proffered
To one who is oblivious to the pea,
If not for any dearth of love for me.
Yes, and medieval plays in verse (those are old and I’m not happy with them). But here’s one that’s more lighthearted. It plays on the dual Renaissance meaning of the word “die.”
<b>A Duchess to her Maid</b>
Girl, hear me now with gentle ear,
for I’ve a weighty charge to give
regarding my affairs. I fear
my bleakness has grown more afflictive;
I seek reunion with my Lord.
I long to enter his embrace,
communion that I once adored,
and stare upon his flawless face.
Can such a purpose be immoral?
What man could fault such agapé?
I’ll lose myself in spiritual
fruition, and find bliss this way.
So while I die, and others dream,
ignore my chamber-shaking scream.
I love how the last two lines of the second poem overrule the cultured tones of the duchess and make away with the medieval chastity fantasy. Nice contrast.
So, why did you the “A genuine princess” in the first poem?
Thanks. I tried to give every line a “death/spiritual” meaning and an alternative “sex” meaning. Oddly, it seems like most people who read the poem pick out one or the other and read <i>every</i> line that way unconsciously. Could probably devise some psychological test out of that.
I meant “A genuine princess” to emphasize that she was a princess insofar as it’s an inherent character trait. Not, of course, in reference to her location in the social hierarchy. I think The Princess and the Pea (familiar in Greece?) treats being a “genuine princess” in the same way.
I originally was reading it with a hazy interpretation that hovered between death and sexuality, but on the second read, I fear the capitalization of “Lord” biased me in every subsequent line, and solidified the former interpretation. Similarly, if you don’t capitalize it, I imagine I’d be heavily biased towards the latter interpretation.
Yes, I had it as a coloured book when I was a child. I got the way you meant it, I should have been more clear.
The “A genuine princess, she spends her day” part feels as if someone has inserted a bit of information, the poem slows down to accommodate that and then continues. Intellectually I know why you’ve included it, it just doesn’t seem to mesh with me. When my mind switches from the “A genuine princess” (which happens after “day”) the sentence “she spends her day…” seems fine, but not when it follows the princess bit.
I see what you mean. The reason I insist on “princess” is for rhyme’s sake; it’s just too convenient that “mattress” rhymes with “princess.” What do you think of these alternatives (or any permutation of their words)?
Like the pale damsel from the fairy tale,
Who woke to bruises on the twentieth mattress
From a mere pea, her skin is deathly frail;
{Her frail affections doubly prove her princess.
The frailty of her passions suits a princess.
Her frailer hopes alone would crown her princess.
Her frailer passions coronate her princess.}
She spends the day half-sleeping in her tower,
And nightly scans for knightly rescuers.
Her dreams are creatures of the midnight hour,
And die before she knows to make them hers.
I am no hero riding from the East
To rescue her. I saw her plight and offered
A hand that she has clasped and not released;
For shame, I hide a right hand that is proffered
To one who is oblivious to the pea,
If not for any dearth of love for me.
If you opt to use “frail” again, the comparative “frailer” seems to work better (aspects of frailty>repetition of frailty). Of the two, “her frailer hopes alone” alludes to something more, while your fourth point is more definitive (bad in this case). Plus, I like the image of the third one better. It’s your choice, of course.