Critical Analysis of Come In

The poem Come In was published as part of the collection called A Witness Tree in the year
1942. And this collection of poem is very comple in its ori!ins because it came out a time
when he was dealin! with not "ust his wife #$linor White%s death& 19'() but also with a very
stormy a*air with his secretary #+athleen ,orrison).
If we ta-e a loo- at the socio political scenario then ominous clouds of apocalypse and the
frantic dance of the warlords were unendin! over the .aci/c& Atlantic and Indian oceans& the
2
nd
!lobal war was threatenin! to outdo its predecessor in death toll and destruction. 0ope
and faith were silent and distant spectators in humanity%s battle to save itself in this mad
spectacle.
The poetic persona admits 12ow if it was dus- outside3Inside it was dar-4 #which
mi!ht be interpreted as the evil that resides in a man which far outdoes the dar-ness
present in 2ature)& the fact the poetic persona is standin! in front of the 5woods% 1As I came
to the ed!e of the woods3Thrush music har-64 is representative of a moment where the
poet is faced with a pendin! crisis3decision. Interestin!ly 5woods% in literature have always
been representative of forces unpredictable& much more powerful and certainly menacin!&
forces uncontrollable. The "ourney throu!h 5woods% also have been representative of a
5movement inside%& a psycholo!ical "ourney into the dar- recesses of human psyche. #7reud&
8un!& 9chopenhauer)
.oets and artists or at least their creative spirits across the centuries have always been
identi/ed with birds be it the ni!htin!ale #+eats)& s-ylar- #9helley)& swans #:eats) etc. and
the fact that the poetic persona says 1Too dar- in the woods for a bird3;y slei!ht of win!3To
better its perch for the ni!ht3Thou!h it still could sin!4 could be interpreted as the poetic
persona thin-in! about actually immersin! himself in sorrow and lamentin! over the
imminent downfall& destruction and hope of man-ind and completely ta-in! a leave from
public life because he had as a voice of reason served enou!h for man to realise his follies.
The 1the last of the li!ht of the sun3 that had died in the west4 is almost a prophetic
insi!ht into what America as a nation would brin! upon the nation of 8apan #!ods% own
country& for the ancients believed that beyond 8apan there was no other land ecept for
0eaven) on Au!ust <
th
194=. And it corroborates with what an American physicist 8. >obert
?ppenheimer& 12ow I am become death& the destroyer of worlds.4 #>ecallin! a line from the
0indu poem the ;ha!avad@Aita& after witnessin! what was brou!ht about by the Bittle ;oy)
:et the poetic persona says 19till lived for one son! more3In a thrush%s breast4& meanin! no
matter how dar- the scenario& how unpleasant the development& the son!ster would cry out
till it%s very last breath to humanity to chan!e& would try to its best to remove the veil of
vanity and !reed.
17ar in the pillared dar-3Thrush music went3Almost li-e a call to come in3To the dar-
and lament4 the cry from the other side seems very enticin! because it would provide him
the necessary protection and shroud him from the travails of life and the thou!ht of
enclosin! himself and immersin! himself in the fortress of his life%s wor-& in art. #.alace of
Art@ Tennyson) seems not "ust lo!ical but very temptin! as well. 0owever it is paradoical
because it seems li-e a suicidal call of the mermaids who used to drown the sailors after
lurin! them with their son!s #The love son! of 8 Alfred .rufoc-@T.9 $liot) but also brin!s forth
a realiCation about life and art 5what is art bereft of life% #The Bady of 9hallot& ,arina@
Tennyson).
;ut then the voice of the poetic persona chan!es and its abrupt unli-e the be!innin!
#which reads more li-e a profound contemplation).
1;ut no& I was out for stars3I would not come in3I meant not even if as-ed3 And I hadn%t
been4. All this while it seems li-e the poetic persona was only contemplatin! what mi!ht
happen if such a case scenario development& it seems it was only an etension of his
thou!hts and bein! the representative of the :an-ee spirit he decides that he would not be
courteous to such thou!hts and if even if !ently as-ed he would refuse because the time
had not yet come for him to stop for still had 1miles to !o before I sleep4 even 1if the woods
were lovely dar- and deep4 for 1I have promises to -eep4 1and miles to !o before I sleep4.
0e would bow out in his own time and not because some people want him to or because of
eternal pressure be it !entle or forceful.
To provide a conclusion to a >obert 7rost%s .oem is a dauntin! tas- because there are
so many interpretations to it& for e.!. some thin- of it as a poem which deals with death&
some thin- it deals with the thou!ht of retirement while some others thin- it%s a paradoical
poem which deals with the problem of choices that life brin!s in front of us with the scale
always heavier in favor of the wron! choice not because of its merit but because of its
informal appeal. 0owever& if we were to indeed attempt to analyse the poem& then we would
have to ta-e into consideration all the aspects mentioned above and draw the conclusion
that poem indeed does deal with the theme of personal loss& aw-ward thou!h necessary
attraction to another women& the !nawin! sense of !uilt over the lac- of responsibility
towards his family and the dar- ominous clouds which were threatenin! to draw humanity to
its ends however it does not end on a note of desperation which is sudden shift from the
melancholic note which rules over the entire poem because of the do!!ed resistance to
chan!e or calamity3loss that the poetic persona draws from the land wherein he toils and
lives.
As far the metrical and scansion part of the poem Come In is concerned& we have to
admit that it is a stran!e composition as far as its metrical style is concernedD it%s a
combination of Anapestic 7oot and Trimeter and Iambic foot and dimeter with variation and
believin! it would be outra!eous to on the part of the reader to actually try and / a meter
for the poem.
The detail of the scansion is !iven below
The 1
st
line of the poem is Anapestic Trimeter& followed by Iambic dimeter& followed
by a combination of Anapestic 7oot and Iambic dimeter endin! with a combination of
Iambic and Anapestic foot.
The 1
st
line of the 2
nd
stanCa a!ain is a combination of Iambic foot with Anapestic
dimeter& followed by Iambic dimeter& followed by a combination of Iambic dimeter
and anapestic foot& endin! with a combination of iambic and anapestic foot.
The 1
st
line of the '
rd
stanCa is a combination of Iambic foot with Anapestic dimeter&
followed by Anapestic dimeter& followed by Aleandrine endin! with a combination of
Anapestic and Iambic foot.
The 1
st
line of the 4
th
stanCa be!ins with Aleandrine& followed by iambic dimeter&
followed by a combination of iambic foot and anapestic dimeter& endin! with
anapestic dimeter.
The 1
st
line of the =
th
stanCa is a combination of anapestic foot and Iambic dimeter&
followed by combination of anapestic and Iambic foot& followed by anapestic dimeter
/nally endin! with Iambic and Anapestic foot.
If we choose to say that it doesn%t have a rhyme scheme then we would probably be
ri!ht but if we repeat the poem time and a!ain we realise that we are actually waitin! for
the words to rhyme not repeat& it%s as if we unconsciously want the poem to rhyme& thus it
wouldn%t be wron! to say that the poem actually follows the Alternate >hymin! .attern3
Cross >hyme& an innovative rhyme scheme which depends more on how we read the poem
#9ound than sense& thus more to 7rost%s desi!n) rather than what appears on the paper.
Arpan >ai