Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[welkins2139]

Strange damps--full of the eyes of many men, crowded with life borne in upon a lull....Oh, I was young, I could turn again to you, most definite and most beautiful, and taste the stuff of half-remeber dreams, sweet and new on your mouth.

.....there was a tanging in the midnight air----silence was dead and sound not yet awoken---Life cracked like ice!--one brilliant note and there, radiant and pale, you stood...and spring had broken. (The icicles were short upon the roofs and the changeling city swooned.)

Our thoughts were frosty mist along the eaves; our two ghosts kissed, high on the long, mazed wires---eerie half-laughter echoes here and leaves only a fatuous sigh for young desires; regret has followed after things she loved, leaving the great husk.

Would you explain the bold text?

Thank you

[damon@English24/7]

The passages you marked out in bold characters are all metaphors. They do not make literal sense, and virtually everyone will disagree at least a little on the meaning. A large part of the meaning is culturally determined so that makes it doubly difficult. What you need to do is, rather than read for the meaning, read for the image the meaning evokes.

For example, the last passage "leaving the great husk," has a literal meaning. However, given the context, this sentence is not about corn or wheat. So what is the husk, then? I think husk refers to the "things she loved." What, then, does the author mean by applying a word like "husk" to "things she loved?" Think about what a husk is. A husk is the dry outer shell of corn or wheat as well as some other grains. "Leaving" implies that the contents of the husk--the nourishment--is no longer in the husk. So, because the husk is empty, the image this sentence leaves me with is that of someone who, after having been loved by this woman, is left feeling empty.

It is important to remember that it is common and normal to disagree on the meaning of sentences like this. What is important is the image that it evokes for you. When you come accross highly metaphorical content, don`t get too caught up with the literal meaning, although you should understand the literal meaning no matter how absurd it may be in context, it is the image that is evoked that is important.

Sorry for the long, difficult and incomplete explanation, but it is a difficult subject. I hope this helps you understand metaphors better.

damon

[asterix]

This is from F Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise it is in a section called looking backward and he is reminiscing about his youth.
He is thinking about February which is a month filled with dampness.
As Damon says, these are all allegorical and you basically have to supply your own meaning from the hints he gives you.
For example:

Midnight air is often filled with strong spicy scents (of pinetrees perhaps).

Ice which covers lakes in many northern parts of the world is subject to pressure cracks. This usually happens on clear, cold, brilliant days with a sudden startling, crack! And there it is.

Frosty mist along the eaves evokes mist which, in cold climates, sometimes occurs when the damp warmth emanating from a house interacts with the cold outside air.
When this mist swirls about you can imagine it is the ghosts of two lovers kissing.

leaving the great husk, probably is a reference to the hollowness of her life now that her happy youth has gone.