Poetry With a Purpose: Poetry Analysis #1
Echo
BY DARYL HINE
Would to herself rehearse her weary woe:
O, she cried, and all the rest unsaid
Identical came back in sorry echo.
Echo for the fix that she was in
Invisible, distraught by mocking passion,
Passionate, ignored, as good as dumb,
Employed that O unchanged in repetition.
Shun love if you suspect that he shuns you,
Use with him no reproaches whatsoever.
Ever you knew, supposing him to know
No melody from which you might recover-
Cover your ears, dear Echo, do not hear.
Here is no supplication but your own,
Only your sighs return upon the air
Ere their music from the mouth be gone.
I like this poem because it's like a retelling of a story, but this story shows much more emotion than the original one. The original story of Echo tells of an Oread, or mountain nymph, who was punished by Hera for protecting Zeus (which is what Zeus told her to do). As a punishment, Hera made it so that Echo could only repeat the words of others, so when she fell in love with Narcissus, she was unable to confess her feelings to him and was forced to watch him fall in love with himself and then drown in an attempt to become closer to his reflection.
I like this poem because it's like a retelling of a story, but this story shows much more emotion than the original one. The original story of Echo tells of an Oread, or mountain nymph, who was punished by Hera for protecting Zeus (which is what Zeus told her to do). As a punishment, Hera made it so that Echo could only repeat the words of others, so when she fell in love with Narcissus, she was unable to confess her feelings to him and was forced to watch him fall in love with himself and then drown in an attempt to become closer to his reflection.
The version of the story told by Daryl Hine focuses more on echo and her sorrows than the other pieces of the story. It appreciates the struggle she has gone through, and it provides a relief from her misery.
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