English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices

English Literature
English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices

What does the "glowing bars" in the poem metaphorically represent ?


Read the following poem and answer the question:

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Options:

  1. The hearth as a symbol of warmth.
  2. The barriers built around the woman's heart.
  3. The confinement of old age and loneliness.
  4. The youthful passions went awry.

Right Answer: The hearth as a symbol of warmth.

The ‘glowing bars’ are the metal bars of the fireplace grate, glowing red with the fire behind them, and the woman bends towards them for warmth as she murmurs her memories. In the poem the hearth stands for comfort, intimacy and the settled quiet of old age, and it is the physical centre of the whole imagined scene. Reading the bars as prison bars of loneliness or as barriers around her heart forces a meaning the poem does not support, since the fire in the first stanza is already a picture of homely warmth rather than confinement.

This question is part of English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices, which has 17 practice questions with answers.

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