3 Fates

Cry out - desperation

Life everlasting - irony

Immortality is miserable but death is preferable

Man is like a toy

Reverse order

1. Back to the river bank

2. Put on his clothes in reverse order

3. From the end backwards

4. Regressed

5. Growing younger

6. Unrolling

Absurdism

1. The river in the poem transmutes to the river of time. The river symbolizes the river of
time.

2. Death happens in an instant. So does birth. The man seems to be revolving not only
between to events, birth and death, but seems to be revolving around 2 instants.

3. “invoked” – Prayer. This shows the superiority of the 3 fates. It also shows how the 3
fates dictate the lives of humans and are very powerful.

4. “drowning” – This phrase shows how every incident, very memory, everything that the
man possessed will be devoured by death in the end. Drowning is compared to the pull
of the 3 fates, the inescapable and inevitable downfall of all humans. Throughout the
poem, the word “drowning” is a metaphor for death.

5. The present tense in the words, “drowning” and “unrolling”, show how time is endless
and meaningless to the man, for he is immortal. Time will never become history for him,
as he himself lives in the past. Even though all the events in the poem are that of the
past, this continued use of present tense, reminds the readers that the past is the
present of the man.

6. “aberration”, “mistake” – These words which follow an enjambment act as an

afterthought, juxtapose with the phrase, “life everlasting”. The words refer to the boon
 of the man, the wish to escape preset rules of life, the fact that life comes with death. It
also refers to the absurd nature of the events that are to follow, almost like a prediction,
that man refuses to hear, “drowned” by his own greed.

7. “cry out” – desperation

8. “life everlasting” – This creates a bathos tone in the poem, as it contrasts with the
serious and life-threatening events that are explained. The phrase presents something
that is too good to be true and creates short-lived excitement in the readers.

9. Came up like a cork - the word cork is specifically used by the poet to metaphorically
show the endless life of the man who cannot die even of free will as a cork cannot sink; it
will always float. Simile. The man may have leaped purposefully into the river, plunging
precipitously to his death, before invoking his salvation/curse. The violence with which he
resurfaces is suggested through hard, guttural alliteration: came up like a cork. The
man is worthless and is not valuable enough to travel in the endless river of time and
become immortal.

10. ‘Back to the river bank’ - the ‘b’ sounds represent a sudden return heartbeat.

11. “Put on his clothes in reverse order” – The word “clothes” is a metaphor for emotion.
This shows how all the emotions of the man are coming back fresh and new, just like the
man, “puts on” his new fresh clothes. The “s” sound in the poem creates an ironical
alliteration, which reiterates the reverse and chaotic state of the man, by flipping the
effect that the sound creates, which is usually soothing and calm to describe a chaotic
event.

12. “Returned to his house” – reverse order. Abnormality. The house is the doorway to his
past emotions. In layman terms, returning to one’s house refers to the ending of a long
journey. However, in this absurd scenario, “returning” to the house holds the reverse
meaning, as the man is to experience his past sorrowful emotions in the next lines of the
poem. The house not only holds all his possessions, but also holds all his sorrows and
sad events of his life, with ethereal precision.

13. Agonies of passion – ironical (contrast) by saying agonies of passion, all the good
things in life becomes extreme suffering for the man. Everything is flipped. “Enormous” –
Magnifies the pain and suffering of the man. The language is hyperbolic, three strong
words in a row combining to assure us his feelings were too much to contain.

14. “writing poems from the end backwards” – Poems are a way of releasing all our pain
and sorrow. However, the man’s inability to write poems as they are supposed to be,
shows his helplessness to relieve himself of his sorrow and also his inability to break free
and leave this world and as escape “life everlasting”. The man is trying to channel his
emotions into writing poems. The man seems to erase his own words, erasing his relief,
leaving him with suffering and only suffering. Tantalizingly, the readers never know what
answers were written in these lines as they disappear before our eyes hence making the
writing process fail as a way of relief.
15. “Brushing up tears that had not yet fallen” - cannot relieve himself from it, because of
his boon his already existing capabilities has decreased. Reversal.

16. “loving her wildly” - 2 different meanings. Loved her passionately, fervently. Negative
connotation - portrays something uncontrollable, unnatural and unacceptable. The
uncontrollable nature of this word also shows how the man feels invincible after he is
given the boon of “life everlasting” which is contrasts the true meaning of the poem.

17. “day regressed towards morning” – Regressed – returning. The man is stuck in a sea of
sorrow, unable to swim away. There is no enthusiasm in returning back to the morning,
this shows that he regrets the decision of wanting eternal life. The word “morning” is a
synecdoche for the idea of the “sun”, which symbolizes warmth and the good aspect of
things. However, the man regrets returning even to the good aspects of his life, as they
have been corrupted and reversed by the absurd nature of this poem.

18. “watching her swinging in the garden” - this phrase highlights absurdism as even
though the man is relieved, he does not belong to this vibrant and cheerful world, he is
the onlooker and the stranger. It is an allusion to the garden of Adam and eve since it
was a cheerful positive place, but they did not belong there similarly the man was
banished as he is watching the world change around him. The world is beyond his grasp
and there is a loss of connection with the real world. The yarn of the three fates seems to
be spinning backwards. The garden is symbolic as the man seems to be forbidden from
entering the garden, making him a spectator. He is a part of the river, that flow of water
– and time – from which he cannot escape. Her ‘grounding’ in the real, Earthly world
contrasts with his metaphysical existence. The garden is his pathway to changing the
past and escaping this endless loop, which is alas impossible.

19. “growing younger” - these 2 phrases show that birth is as fatalistic as death, we have
no control over birth or death. The man is revolving around the 2 points where humans
have no control over making him helpless and invoke pity.

20. “bare foot”, “straw hatted” – This shows the carefree and free nature of the girl in the
poem. This shows the innocent nature of the girl and creates a bathos tone. The phrase
“straw hatted” creates the visual imagery of holes in the hat, also symbolizing freedom.
However, the man is stuck in an endless loop, unable to break free, and simply stuck.
This creates a juxtaposition and shows how the reversal of the man’s life, has also
made the man seem to be a stranger to this carefree world.

21. “And when she was gone”, “and the house”, “and the swing”, “and daylight” – This line of
the final stanza is all flowing movement: the list of things that fade – she… and the
house and the swing and the daylight– is joined together three-times by ‘and’, a
technique called polysyndeton. ‘And’ sews the list together more smoothly than
commas, helping to conjure both the sense of time flowing and the ceaseless flow of the
river to which he always returns. Repetition of “and” - highlights the man’s loss,
enjambment. Ending with daylight that signifies the loss of hope. Lists all the things he
lost, mentioning it one after one another intensifying the effect. Creates a heightened
sense of the man’s suffering, creating a very gloomy mood He loses everything. Is it as if
the end of everything? At that moment of gloom, there is an instant pause, and this
dreadful cycle begins all over again.
22. “an instant’s pause” – death means leaving everything behind. In this phrase the man
leaves everything he has behind, everything that caused suffering to him, and for a
second, ‘an instant’s pause’ he gets peace and relief from all the suffering which
ironically shows that death is the boon, but immediately is snatched away from him
because of his ‘aberration’.

23. “began allover” –

24. “the reel unrolling towards the river” - The final line of the poem completes the
transmutation of the river into time through alliteration using L, W and R: The reel
unrolling towards the river. Technically called liquid, these three sounds are perfect for
creating fluidity, the flow of the river and of time itself.

25. ‘Growing younger’, ‘it began all over again’.

26. Structure - There is a repeated structure in the poem by the continuous use of tercet
and the last line being usually shorter than the other lines, this repeated structure shows
that the man is experience the same events in life again and again in a repeated fashion.
In stanza 3 the last line is u expectedly longer than the other lines. The poem also has no
rhyme and is a free verse. These 2 evidences show that the poet creates the fake image
of structure and order in the poem. Similarly, the man is also deceived by the 3 fates by
their fake boon as everlasting life ends up being the curse. The man is not only deceived
by the 3 fates but is also deceived by his own greed, his greed for everlasting life and
this poem shows that we humans should follow the natural ways of life, our
pre-determined fates and should not get deceived by our own little fantasies.

27. ‘Death is escaped and life is suffering’ - theme of poem

28. Too much of anything is bad - another theme of poem

29. The enjambment also creates the effect of the flow of time, of the endless moving loop,
which will never stop or come to an end.

30. Throughout the poem, the poet combines the motif of water with repeated backwards
movements in order to suggest the reversed flow of time is like the flow of water in the
river, carrying the man inexorably and inescapably through his life.

31. Stanza Mirroring

1. The man is seeing his life as a mirror image, it is reversed. The man can only
watch his mirror image and he is a spectator

2. Shows the endless pain and the endless loop of the exact same events in
life. The man is reliving the same events in his past.

32. Free verse - no rhythm. No rhyme stripped of rhythm. Highlights suffering. No relief from
the theme of misery. The absence of the rhythm keeps the tone of the poem gloomy.
33. Caesura - list scenes of his life. The pause allows the readers to reflect on their very
own lives, and them to understand that small actions could lead to grave consequences.
Highlights the man’s misery and loss.

34. Relentless tone of regret and misery.

35. The poem has been written in tercets. The first line is the longest and the lines of the
stanzas then decreases. This physically displays the regression. Its shows how the man
is experiencing his life in a “reverse order”.