Poetry - XIII Journal

This poem is about a romance. It begins with a passionate and loving relationship. However, towards the middle of the poem, the lovers have a conflict to deal with, and they become much more separated, figuratively and literally. This distance causes the man, who is also the speaker, to become extremely unable to express himself, ultimately resulting in his despair.
This poem occurs between a man and a woman. The man is the speaker. I know it is between a man and a woman because of the repeated letter of 's'. The way that this letter is used is in rather feminine, soft, caring way, while it is definitely a man from the way he calls her a doll. I have never seen a male doll, and never heard a woman calling another woman their "toy doll,". The speaker is the man because of the lack of 's' sounds after the consequence of his inability to express himself. He is still there, but the woman, and all the femininity, is gone.
This poem was written to show the effects of expression. It was written to show the reader how being unaware of yourself, and unaware of your own abilities can cause your life to crumble. The poet is conveying the negative effects of being closed off from the world because of a lack of expression. Through this, he shows how the world, and humans, need to see expression in others, even when all they desire to do is express themselves. People need a person to be able to appreciate their life, and their ways of expression.
The poet does this through the references to water, and liquids. In the beginning of the poem, there are many references to thirst, water, and so on. However, towards the end of the poem, when he is becoming more and more closed off, the liquid references dwindle, and eventually stop. Water is used to represent life, and water gives life. When the man becomes closed up, and unable to express himself, the water references go away. This shows that when a person expresses themselves, they are able to live.