Poetry · Chapter
La Figlia Che Piange explained
The speaker reflects on a scene of parting, imagining a woman standing on a stair, weaving sunlight in her hair, and then turning away with resentment.
What happens
The speaker reflects on a scene of parting, imagining a woman standing on a stair, weaving sunlight in her hair, and then turning away with resentment. He contemplates the ideal, simple way a farewell might occur, but is haunted by the image of her grief and the autumn weather that compels his imagination. The poem ends with a sense of unresolved wonder and the persistence of memory.
Themes in this chapter
Memory and the Past
The speaker is compelled by the memory of the woman's gesture and the autumn weather, which haunts his imagination for many days and hours.
Love and Unsatisfied Desire
The imagined parting and the speaker's longing for a simple, faithless farewell reflect unfulfilled romantic desire and the pain of separation.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The speaker who imagines and reflects on the scene of parting, grappling with memory and desire.
Key passages
“Stand on the highest pavement of the stair— Lean on a garden urn— Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair—”
Pose on the top step, rest against the garden urn, and intertwine the sunlight in your hair.
The speaker directs the woman to adopt a picturesque stance, emphasizing artifice and memory.
“So I would have had him leave, So I would have had her stand and grieve, So he would have left As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised, As the mind deserts the body it has used.”
I would have wanted him to depart, and her to remain in sorrow, his leaving as painful as the soul separating from a battered body or the mind abandoning its worn-out vessel.
The speaker imagines an idealized, yet violent, separation, comparing it to the soul's departure from the body.
“I should find Some way incomparably light and deft, Some way we both should understand, Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.”
I should discover a method incredibly graceful and subtle, one we both would comprehend, as simple and untrustworthy as a smile and a handshake.
The speaker desires a parting that is effortless and devoid of deep commitment, yet acknowledges its faithlessness.