February 09

I am writing today's blog about the poem Mid - Day by H.D.  This poem is very interesting and seems to actually be talking about a man who is having a Mid-Life crisis.  There is an interesting correlation with the title.  There are several references to seeds and different types of trees.  The first stanza is an acknowledgment or opening to the fact that the man is in crisis.  he is "anguished"(4).  The poem seems to be working backwards in time.  the black seeds are dead and can no longer give life to something, suggesting that the man is old.  Then it speaks more of the conflict and being "scattered in its whirl"(10).  I am assuming that "its" is life.  Then the seeds are shriveled and things that are alive begin to bend and fall with age.  The memory of childhood is looked upon and symbolized by the poplar tree sitting up on a hill.  These memories are cherished and put up on a pedestal / hill.  The tree has deep roots and has a long and healthy life ahead of it.  The man gives one last lamenting note in remembering his childhood says defeatedly that he is perishing on his current path.  This poem is very interesting and I thought the comparison of life to that of plant life very interesting.