[New-Poetry] For the WEPD experiment: Houseman's Poem

[Bob Grumman]

> "In the third stanza, the speaker claims that because fifty more 
> opportunities to enjoy these lovely trees with their luscious blossoms 
> is not enough, he will go to observe the same trees also in winter, 
> when they are 'hung with snow'.  That way the speaker doubles his 
> opportunities to enjoy the cherry trees 'wearing white'."
Her interpretation isn't illogical, it's just wrong.  That's because The 
poet spends a stanza describing the cherry trees right now.  He's not 
then going to say, "So off I'll go to enjoy them this coming winter."  
He also says he wants to enjoy the blooms; snow isn't a bloom.  Plus, he 
doesn't say 50 springs aren't enough, only that they are "little room."  
The lean seems therefore toward, I'd better make the most of what little 
room there is.  Last observation, if the poet wants to say he wants to 
double his pleasure of the trees' beauty by seeing them in winter, he 
could have said, "About the woods I'll also go/ To see the cherry hung 
with snow."  Oops, one more thought--that this idea is abrupt.  It also 
seems to me to distract from the idea of enjoying them while the poet 
can--because it's like a solution to his problem--for all we know, 
enjoying them in winter as well as spring would be enough.  In any case, 
it lessens the urgency of getting out there and enjoying them now, right 
away.

Can't stop: cherry trees aren't going to be any more beautiful in winter 
than any other non-evergreen.

--Bob