Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Love and Death and This Living Hand
"This Living Hand" presents rather as a conundrum; it's listed as a fragment by the Broadview text, which also notes that there is no context for it. It could be so many different things its difficult to see how this fits into the confessional context that its headed under. The only way I'm able to shoehorn it in there is as perhaps being part of a love poem. The central theme of giving one's life to bring this once living hand back to life is easily identifiable and is a bit of a signpost there. It's a little too short to be a proper sonnet, and the form doesn't follow traditional sonnet formula; at the same time there is a bit of a sonnet-esque tone to the writing.
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I have to admit that though I enjoyed the simplicity of the poem, it was hard for me to grasp how it fell under the confessional context as well. I definitely agree that it is probably part of a love poem as well. After listening to the presentation in class though, I wonder if this poem was Keats' way of reaching out to that woman that he was so obsessed with but never got the chance to talk to.
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