Think its good to share some thought on poetry. Please tell YOUR interpretations of these two poems.
1.
I walked abroad in a snowy day;
I asked the soft snow with me to play;
She played and she melted in all her prime,
And the winter called it a dreadful crime.
William Blake
2.
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
Stephen Crane
The desert is not necessarily a bad or evil place. It can be a sanctuary for tortuous souls, or a place for spiritual quests. John the Baptist likes it.
The creature though mean and evil by all appearances, is not necessarily so. The description fits ascetics who neglect all grooming from being totally lost to spiritual pursues. Devotees of many Asian self denying sects fit.
Eat: not necessarily for nourishment or a destructive act. It can be symbolic of profound empathizing or knowledge seeking. Eat naturally brings to mind the Eucharist.
Bitter...BUT I like it - implies obviously that the bitter taste is not a good taste. In the same breath he offers BECAUSE it is bitter, implying that he is exploring for insights, not after delights of the palate. But why does he like the bad taste? Perhaps simply because bitterness is proof of humanity, warts and all.
The creature finally makes peace with his flawed self.
This is Crane looking at himself in a dream. In mental wretchedness but still with enough equanimity to call his inner demon 'friend,' he explores his own tortuous and flawed nature, to finally come to self acceptance.
Interesting! Had never thought of it that way. In fact, had done in NO way! Was waiting for a time to seek an interpretation.
Blake being a profound social thinker, the exaggerated pathos in 'soft snow' must be about a lot more than just a flight of fancy. And it being so provoking and mystifying, by such renown mystic, the less than dearth of public commentaries about this poem is both hard to understand and perfectly understandable. Wonder provoking and mystifying all around-- mystic, poem, public !
Discussing the poem with my friends,I found out a bit about what kind of poet he was. And then I came up with this:
If we suppose the winter as a society (a government, in fact) in which there's no liberty or freedom as such, and the the snow as the people who have become 'cold' because of their government, now if you who know the truth and are 'warm' with it, and make make someone like yourself, warm with the truth (when you take the handful of snow, your warmth makes it warm as well), then the government will indeed it call it "a dreadful crime).