English Literature Exam?

In my recent exam one of the questions was to critically assess the following poem I managed most of it ( I think ) but was really stumped by the rhyming couplet and its meaning- any help please just for my own peace of mind- or this couplet will haunt me for ever!



The dark and pillowy cloud, the sallow trees,

Seem o'er the ruins of the year to mourn;

And, cold and hollow, the inconstant breeze

Sobs thro' the falling leaves and wither'd fern.

O'er the tall brow of yonder chalky bourn, 5

The evening shades their gather'd darkness fling,

While, by the lingering light, I scarce discern

The shrieking night-jar sail on heavy wing.

Ah! yet a little—and propitious Spring

Crown'd with fresh flowers shall wake the woodland strain; 10

But no gay change revolving seasons bring

To call forth pleasure from the soul of pain;

Bid Syren Hope resume her long-lost part,

And chase the vulture Care—that feeds upon the heart.

English Literature Exam?
To me Syren Hope is spring, the renewing yearly cycle, and the vulture being onset of winter.
Reply:Okay, I think I've got it ... but let's make sure about where we're heading ...



Lines 1-8 -- the octet describes how dead and miserable the winter scene is ...



Lines 9-12 -- the quatrain then offers a TURN, pointing out that as bleak as things appear, spring WILL soon arrive (9-10) BUT BUT BUT spring won't do anything to diminish the speaker's misery ("the gay change of the changing seasons won't call forth pleasure from the soul of pain")



SO ... here comes the couplet:



Bid Syren Hope resume her long-lost part,

and chase the vulture CARE -- that feeds upon the heart.



You're right -- it's weird.



I think he's saying this: "So we need Hope, symbolized as a Syren -- a sweet-voiced temptress who lures the innocent with her song -- to "chase the vulture Care" ...



Okay, I think it boils down to something like this ...



Maybe HOPE is ultimately a "sweet lie" -- and maybe Melancholy and Depression and Weltschmerz and Existential Angst is all true ...



the problem is that it's a flavor of "TRUTH" that will crush you, kill you, make your life miserable ...



SO we need to Syren Hope to sing her mesmerizing song, lure the Vulture of Existential Despair out of the skies and then (I'm adding this part) kill it, cook it, and eat it ... because otherwise the Vulture Despair will just keep eating the human heart ...





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EXTRA STUFF:



BTW, I don't think Existential Despair is actually "true" -- and neither does Peter Kramer, who addresses just that question of why Western culture so curiously valorizes melancholy in his recent book, "Against Depression."



He makes a strong case that we need to get over our love affair with melancholy:



http://www.amazon.com/Against-Depression...

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