Hey guys, my first post on this club's forum. I found this poem at school and it left quite a profound mark on my soul. The author is Romanian and it is one of our great poets. He is really fond on symbolism and has a really pessimistic approach in his poems. Here is the poem
"The coffins of lead were lying sound asleep,
And the lead flowers and the funeral clothes -
I stood alone in the vault... and there was wind...
And the wreaths of lead creaked.
Upturned my lead beloved lay asleep
On the lead flower... and I began to call -
I stood alone by the corpse... and it was cold ...
And the wings of lead drooped."
I really love this poem and this translation is pretty good. Here are some questions that you can answer to if you want.
1. What do you think is the theme of the poem?
2. What colors may be hinted in this poem? Basically what colors do you recall while reading it
3. Why do you think the writer chose the motif of lead in the poem?
4. And finally how do you feel after reading this poem?
Here is the source for the poem: http://www.aboutromania.com/bacovia1.html
George Bacovia - "Lead"
4 posts in this topic.
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1. What do you think is the theme of the poem?
I think this poem is about death and grief and perhaps heartbreak as well. The death part is straight forward enough, as the poet uses imagery that describes a coffin, funeral clothes, and a corpse. But beyond that, as you mentioned, the poet has a very melancholy, pessimistic tone and word choice. The narrator really emphasizes how alone and cold they feel without their "beloved". I feel like the way they keep describing the dead body as "asleep" shows just how much they want it to wake up, too.
2. What colours may be hinted at in this poem? Basically what colours do you recall while reading it?
This is a really interesting question, especially since the poet doesn't use any literal colours as descriptions. Mostly because of the lead imagery he uses, I saw a lot of greys, silvers, and blacks when I was reading. I also saw some white and blue, more because of the preconceived image of a "corpse" I have than the actual language he used. I think he is in a way using the reader's knowledge of death and letting them imagine some things on their own, instead of repeating all the cliche "skin as pale as paper, lips tinged blue" death-imagery. It lets him focus on the emotions and tactile sensations rather than visuals in the poem.
3. Why do you think the writer chose the motif of lead in the poem?
Possibly because of the saying of having "legs like lead"? When someone says their legs feel like lead, it's usually because they're physically exhausted or tired, but it can also be because they're mentally exhausted, or in shock, or sad and grieving. By describing everything as though it's made of lead, Bacovia creates a heavy image, if that makes sense. Everything around the narrator is too heavy to lift in a sense.
4. And finally, how do you feel after reading this poem?
I'd say the main feeling I get from this poem is loneliness. The narrator isn't focusing on the death of their beloved, exactly, so much as how lonely they feel without them.
Thank you @Buranko for organizing the poem discussion this month! <3 -
1.) I think the poem is talking about death and perhaps the aftermath of experiencing the loss of a loved one. The words like funeral clothes, coffins, flowers, lay asleep, and corpse bring death to my mind, while “beloved” makes me think it’s the loss of a loved one.
2.) Because of the dark mood of the poem, I felt a lot of dark colours, like blacks and greys. The repetition of “lead” brings silver and a dull grey to my mind. Also, with words like “cold” and “alone,” I thought of cooler colours in general, like purple and indigo.
3.) My immediate thought was that lead is heavy, and experiencing the loss of someone is a very heavy feeling. Lead is pretty dense, and something that is very dense makes me think of being firmly pressed together and compacted. This then makes me thing of being suffocated, and you can feel like you’re suffocating in times of grief.
4.) I feel a sense of heaviness but emptiness at the same time. My answer to number three explains the heaviness, but the idea of being alone makes me feel empty as well. I find it interesting that this poem makes me feel two very different things at once!
Thanks for organizing this! <3 -
1. What do you think is the theme of the poem?
This poem is very straightforward in its themes of death and mourning. It's a simple recount of the narrator being in the vault after the other funeral attendees have left.
I did a little research about the poet, and he sent this poem and a host of others to be published in a book in 1914, also the year he was being treated in a sanatorium. I didn't catch what he was sick with, but at the time it was written, it's very possible that he was sick with tuberculosis. I wonder if one of his friends died from the disease?
2. What colors may be hinted in this poem?
While my first instinct was to say gray and black because lead in its raw form is that color, lead was used to make paint whiter. While I feel like the lead is the most metaphorical element in this poem (we'll get to that in the next question), perhaps he was trying to speak of white lead paint. White doesn't speak to sadness or darkness, but it does speak to emptiness, which is an element of mourning.
3. Why do you think the writer chose the motif of lead in the poem?
Lead is interesting. Lead is toxic, and lead is a very dense metal, which makes it heavy. Lead was used until 1978 (in the US) as a paint ingredient. Lead used to be used in gasoline!
Within the poem, and considering the timeframe, we can kind of rule out the toxic comparison. Doctors weren't quite realizing that lead was a health hazard. They were seeing patterns starting in the 20s, but I wonder if they knew earlier? Either way, I doubt Bacovia would have known that lead makes you sick.
I believe that he included lead as a motif in the poem because lead is heavy. When going through a huge emotional upset, like the narrator is in the poem, your body can feel physically heavy. It can feel like you are making a ton of effort just to move your arms. If this man was a pallbearer, he might have felt like the coffin was made of lead, and if he helped decorate, he might have felt the flowers were heavy, the wreaths were heavy.
4. And finally how do you feel after reading this poem?
This poem gives a sense of emptiness. Of course there is grief, but the theme of the narrator being alone in the vault with the corpse and no one around lets the reader feel as if the narrator must have lost someone very close to them. It's an interesting poem!
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