Blue Rim Of Memory

Sorrow in “The Blue Rim of Memory”

“The Blue Rim of Memory” by Denise Levertov is a poem of sorrow. Critics believe this poem was written about her mother’s death, more specifically her feelings about the death. Levertov’s poem is written in metaphors, which is divided into four different sections, each of which tell “the way sorrow enters the bone.”(Lns. 1 and 16). The message of the poem is felt through Levertov’s comparisons and examples. The first two lines of the poem are simple, but these lines set the premise for the rest of the poem:

The Way Sorrow enters the bone is with stabs and hoverings.(Lns. 1-2)

The first two lines of the poem begin the use of metaphors throughout. The first line specifically sets the guidelines for the images that are to follow. The second line generalizes the specific images the poet uses, saying that sorrow can sometimes felt quickly like “stabs”, whereas other times sorrow seems to linger as “hoverings”. The rest of the stanza begins the first of four central metaphors used throughout the poem. Levertov begins this metaphor by saying “from a torn page”(Line 3), implying that this image is one from a book, but not fully understood all of the knowledge. Levertov continues to say: a cabriolet approaches over the crest of a hill,

first

Levertov opens this stanza the same way the poem is opened by saying “The way sorrow enters the bone” (Lns. 1 and 16). This time, however, sorrow enters the bone is “the way fish sink through dense lakes” (Line 17). The fourth and final metaphor continues “the way sorrow enters the bone”(Lns 1 and 16), this time being “the way snow drains the light form the day” (Lns. 21-22). These two metaphors continue the idea of sorrow’s density. Even though these two metaphors are used to symbolize sorrow, in the last few lines of the poem Levertov offers a sense of light to the reader by writing, in relation to the snow