She says that when she was young, she had so many suitors and she turned them all away. She had told them to go look somewhere else. So cupid came, and he told her that since she is so unresponsive (a synonym to coy on the Apple dictionary), he ripped out her feathers, her beauty, and she now never has to turn her suitors away. Now she regrets that she turned them all away.
They reason I found this interesting is for how she viewed herself as turning suitors away, but as we talked about in class, it seems like she never actually turned anyone away. She kept each suitor close. Close enough to hold on to their strings, but far enough that she never promised marriage.
Maybe she meant that she turned them away in the simple sense of never marrying them. Maybe she wrote this poem because she felt like she missed good chances. Maybe she wrote it to make it look like she turned them away, and not look like she took advantage of them. Or maybe she really felt exactly what she said, although its hard to believe that she didn't know what she was doing when she was playing her games on these men... she knew.
Aleks,
ReplyDeleteThat is the found I found interesting too. I agree with you that the poem can have so many different meanings and reasons behind them. That is the thing about poerty though, huh? Unless you ask the poet, you may never know if what has been written is exactly what they meant or does it all stand for something else.
I like how you thought of all the different ways she "turned suitors away." You are very right that she never fully turned them away, cause she goes to them when in need. Elizabeth was a complex woman. She knew everything she was doing, yet put on an act for the world to see. However, like you said on my blog, I agree that if she were to do it again, she'd still make the same choices. They may have made her lonely, but her country did rise and became powerful!
~Sarah C