“The Harp of India”
This short poem is directed toward the titular musical instrument. The speaker is directly addressing a harp which hangs on a tree limb with its strings undone. Although it once made sweet music enjoyed by all, in its present condition no one listens anymore. The harp becomes a metaphor for the glorious past of Indian culture which has been lost due to the oppression of British colonialism. The speaker bemoans this lack of artistic achievement which has been allowed to wither and die. The poem ends with the speaker’s call for the harp to play music again and in doing to return Indian culture to its former place of prominence.
“To the pupils of Hindu College"
As an instructor at Hindu College, the poet became the leader of a group of radical young thinkers. In this poem, the speaker is addressing those students as a group. He begins by describing them symbolically as flowers in which the blooming of the petals is compared to the speaker’s influence on opening their minds. He goes on to also compare their awakening intelligence to birds spreading their wings as they learn to fly. The flower metaphor is then returned to as the speaker suggests that they have been shaped by early traditional influences which his instruction has helped to wash away like April rain. He ends by predicting greatness lies in their future and that, if so, it will justify his efforts to teach and prove it wasn’t done in vain.
“The Maniac Widow”
The speaker in this poem is the widow herself, whose husband has died in battle. Despite his death, she can still hear his voice on the wind. The widow is overwhelmed by her grief and fantasizes about him returning from the battlefield as a hero. She promises that she will create a wreath for him to wear like a crown on his head when he returns. At first she muses that the wreath will be created from various flora including twigs from a cypress tree. She immediately rejects the latter, however, acknowledging that the cypress tree is a symbol associated with death. Still within the grip of fantasy, she claims to see him returning to her via ship wearing a red cloak and with a plume waving from his head. She briefly remembers being told that he died on the battlefield but in her grief reject this possibility and sees him again on the ship. This becomes a recurring fight within her mind in which she fights with fantasy to stem off the reality. Midway through, the narrative voice shifts from the widow to an unknown third person perspective which proceeds to describe the legend of the woman who climbs a chalky cliff to sing a lament about her lost love and becomes a legendary figure among the fisherman who watch her make the trek up the cliff every year.
“Thermopylae”
The poem is a retelling of the story of the battle of Thermopylae between Sparta and Persia under the leadership of Xerxes I. A speaker begins by asking why the battle was fought and then answers that it was a fight to be free. The speaker suggests that nobody would choose to live as a slave on their knees rather than stand and fight for their own freedom. The speaker then goes on to assert that the battle that day was one in which the Spartans taught the Persians how liberty is gained by fighting for freedom. The overpowering might of the Persian army succeeds in wiping out all the Spartans, but ultimately the victory goes to the losers because they refused to die on their knees as slaves to their oppressors.
The speaker recalls how he was musing upon the story of Romeo and Juliet late one night while all alone. He describes the way that Juliet listened to every word spoken by Romeo until it was time for him to depart. He wonders why she called him back to her at that moment instead of letting him go. His answer is that being together took precedence even over being alive. He ends by asserting that such passion is something higher and greater than living itself.
“Yorick’s Skull”
The speaker of this poem takes up the concept explored in the famous graveyard scene in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Just as Hamlet ponders the meaning of existence when everybody winds up as bones and dust, so the speaker realize that the ultimate humiliation of life is that it always ends in death. Even the person who proclaims to be lord over everything is subject to this same destiny. The realization of this universal truth leads the speaker to an epiphany. He declares pride to be the lesson that mortality should teach. The divinity of humanity is merely an empty exercise in such pride since all will meet the very same end.
