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Question: Poetry: In the line, "Through which in quiet pomp his litter goes,!.!.!." What does it mean!?
The eyelids meet!. He'll catch a little nap!.
The grizzled, crew-cut head drops to his chest!.
It shakes above the briefcase on his lap!.
Close voices breathe, "Poor sweet, he did his best!."
"Poor sweet, poor sweet," the bird-hushed glades repeat,
Through which in quiet pomp his litter goes,
Carried by native girls with naked feet!.
A sighing stream concurs in his repose!.
Could he but think, he might recall to mind
The righteous mutiny or sudden gale
That beached him here; the dear ones left behind !.!.!.
So near the ending, he forgets the tale!.
Were he to lift his eyelids now, he might
Behold his maiden porters, brown and bare!.
But even here he has no appetite!.
It is enough to know that they are there!.
Enough that now a honeyed music swells,
The gentle, mossed declivities begin,
And the whole air is full of flower-smells!.
Failure, the longed-for valley, takes him in!.
-- Richard Wilbur
I have to summarize every line!.!.!. and this one and the first two of the last stanza have stumped meWww@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Pomp is--quoting from the dictionary here--"Dignified or magnificent display; splendor"!. Being carried around in a litter would certainly be an example of pomp!. "Quiet pomp" is not quite an oxymoron, but it's sort of a juxtaposition of things that you would not ordinarily put together: pomp usually makes you think of something loud: a brass band, or some sort of display before hundreds of people!. By contrast, this is "quiet pomp": the glade that he is being carried through is very quiet, and there is no one to see his progress, but still, it's pomp!.
Oh, a litter is "An enclosed or curtained couch mounted on shafts and used to carry a single passenger," if you didn't know that word!. It's carried by people!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Something about cats!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
the character the poem is about ('in the smoking car') has fallen asleep on board a train (perhaps he is on a business trip)!. he dreams that instead of traveling on a train between american cities he is being carried on a litter by native girls (perhaps in africa - or latin america)!.
the girls carry him with awestruck respect (quiet pomp)!. we can guess from his dream that young women probably don't pay him too much attention anywhere except in his dreams!.
in the last verse he dreams that he is being carried into a valley (perhaps this is the valley of death)!. the honeyed music is the birdsong that he is dreaming (we can wonder what noise in the waking train has become birdsong in his dream)!. the gentle mossed declivities just means that the girls who carry him are now walking downhill (declivity) over moss!.
this is a very mechanical kind of poem:- it says the sort of things one expects a poem to say, much in the way that one expects a poem to say them!.
it is poetry by numbers - as indeed richard wilbur almost always is!.Www@QuestionHome@Com