Pastime
A boat amid the ripples, drifting, rocking;
Two idle people, without pause or aim;
While in the ominous West there gathers darkness
Flushed with flame.
A hay-cock in a hay-field backing, lapping,
Two drowsy people pillowed round about;
While in the ominous West across the darkness
Flame leaps out.
Better a wrecked life than a life so aimless,
Better a wrecked life than a life so soft:
The ominous West glooms thundering, with its fire
Lit aloft.
The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti (edited by William Michael Rossetti) (1904). "Better a wrecked life" took me aback when I first read it: it did not seem "Victorian." But that only shows that I underestimated Victorian poetry at the time.
4 comments:
Thanks for this one. I just read "The Invention of Clouds"--about Luke Howard, who came up with a scientific categorization for clouds. The book mentions his influence on Constable, so I especially like seeing the painting.
Mary F. C. Pratt: thank you for stopping by again. Yes, Constable's clouds are wonderful, aren't they? His numerous 'cloud studies' (some of which I have posted before) are lovely.
To me the attitude expressed in the poem represents the strong Victorian sense of duty. I wonder what the "west" symbolizes.
From My Easy Chair: as always, thank you for the comment. As for "the west," here is something to consider: in the First World War, British soldiers referred to someone who was killed in battle as having "gone west." This was after Rossetti's time, of course, but it is my understanding (although I have not researched the point) that the phrase had been in use for quite some time -- i.e., the setting of the sun, etc. Just a thought.
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