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tamingthemuseTitle: Analysis in Red
Author: Guardian Erin
Rating: PG
Analysis of Red is the Color of Blood, a poem by Conrad Aiken.
Red is the Color of Blood by Conrad Aiken is a poem that makes strong use of the colors red and green to paint a sharp contrast in the reader's mind. At first glance, the poem may appear to be merely contrasting the serenity of the environment with a man's fantasies of violence, and the speaker comes across as violently deranged. Upon further examination, one realizes that the violent imagery is purely fantasy, while on the outside the speaker is completely genteel. One has to wonder if the speaker will be able to continue this balancing act, or if his inner thoughts will eventually be revealed, with catastrophic results. Conrad Aiken uses the contrast of colors, imagery, and reality versus fantasy to show the speaker's internal conflict and frustration with a passionless world.
The title of the poem immediately reveals a focus on the color red, and directs the audience to what it represents – blood. Blood can relate to violence and murder, but it can also relate to passion, connecting the mind to the human heart and warmth, and from there to the emotion of love. Aiken reveals that the color red, or blood, "is hidden under the suave flesh of women"... "it mounts from the heart to the temples." (2) The fact that the color red is hidden plays a strong role in this poem. In contrast to red, Aiken finds himself in a world of green and blue.
Although green may normally be connected to good health, and blue to a sense of calm, in this poem they are endless white noise to the speaker, and lack any passion. He says, "I tire of the green of this world. I am myself a mouth for blood." (3) The second line implies hunger or thirst for what blood represents. The speaker is desperate to find passion, color, vibrant life, violence – anything that will break up the calm monotony of the life he lives. He even says, "I have sought it in the grass," although grass would be a very unusual place to find the color itself, or anything it represents. (1)
Blue and green are also the colors that describe a woman the speaker appears to be in love with. Her eyes, "with the late sun in them" (5) are described as "blue pools dazzled with yellow petals," (5) which implies that the only reason he finds her eyes interesting is because of the warm yellow that adds excitement to them. This happens again later in a candle-lit room when he says her "hair is like spun fire."(11) Without the addition of warm light, the rest of her descriptions are very plain. She wears an emerald ring that the speaker gave to her, it is implied she wears green when the speaker says, "this pale green suits [her eyes] well," (5) and throughout the poem she doesn't say a word, only smiles. The green and blue that surround this girl give her a strong connection to the world around her. Although the speaker hates the green of the world, he tries to see the other colors in the girl, such as the yellow in her eyes from the sun, but on the inside he still grows to hate her.
Like the colors, the contrast of imagery shows a drastic difference between the world around the speaker, and what happens in his mind. This creates a strong push and pull of mood, varying from a light, romantic feeling, to a dark and violent rage, and back again. The first line, stating that "red is the color of blood, and [he] will seek it," (1) is unsettling, but Aiken immediately adds some poetic descriptions. He states that red "is the color of steep sun seen through eyelids," (1) uses soft words like "suave," "flows", and "quietly," (2) and then relates it to the sap in a rose. Immediately afterward, however, he describes himself as being "confused in webs and knots of scarlet, spun from the darkness, or shuttled from the mouths of thirsty spiders." (2) The reader is again left with an unsettling image, but one that accurately reflects the speaker's inner conflict because of the negative words, "webs," "knots," "darkness," and "spiders."
This wordplay continues throughout the poem, moving back and forth between soft, calming words, and dark, violent ones. There are many different little scenes in which the speaker seems to be showing his love a romantic evening. He describes the two walking together while the sun sets, and points out seagulls to her, but his mind is actually focused on her. While he uses these poetic scenes, he also shows disdain for typical poetic thoughts by wondering, "Why must we link things so?" after he uses roses to represent mouths. A stanza of the poem that reveals his violent thoughts is repeated for emphasis, once in the middle of the poem and again as the last stanza, only differing by a few words. This stanza contains an abundance of harsh, violent words, for example: "For I think of you, flung down brutal darkness, crushed and red, with pale face. I think of you, with your hair disordered and dripping. And myself, rising red from that embrace." (12) All of these things – the switches between soft words and imagery and violence, and from using poetic terms freely to criticizing them – creates a very contradicting picture, overall.
There is a large disparity between how the speaker feels on the inside and how he actually behaves on the outside. The poem expresses intense emotion, to the point where the speaker fantasizes about killing this girl that he loves but whom shows no passion for him, or anything else around her. He does seem to try to introduce her to his view on the world, telling her, "Look, how our shadows creep along the grave!-- And this way, how the gravel begins to shine!" (8) He urges her to throw away regrets, to "scatter them to the winds," (9) but this seems to have no effect on her. Aside from those small attempts, his outward behavior is usually radically different from how he feels on the inside. "Here is your finger, with an emerald on it," he says to her, "the one I gave you. I say these things politely -- but what I think beneath them, who can tell?" (6) He does this again when he points the seagulls out to her, but inside he doesn't care about the seagulls at all, he only cares about her.
These different romantic things: giving her a ring, walking with her at sunset, and trying to point out things that will interest her, don't have an impact on her at all, and certainly do not reflect what the speaker is truly thinking about. The lack of response from her continues to build up his frustration to the point where he would hurt her just to finally upset her prim outward appearance and forcibly acquire something that is real to him. The sense of restraint and formality in this world is stifling, and almost justifies the speaker's restless and desperate thoughts. However, he fails to actually break through the propriety that dominates the culture, and only plays into it instead. The conflict in the speaker, the push and pull between how he feels and how he behaves, is very strong and noticeable, thanks to the various contrasts Aiken provides. The combination of color symbolism, imagery, and reality contrasted with fantasy, creates a realistic and disturbing picture of the speaker and his desperation for passion in an overly prim and reserved world.
Author: Guardian Erin
Rating: PG
Analysis of Red is the Color of Blood, a poem by Conrad Aiken.
Red is the Color of Blood by Conrad Aiken is a poem that makes strong use of the colors red and green to paint a sharp contrast in the reader's mind. At first glance, the poem may appear to be merely contrasting the serenity of the environment with a man's fantasies of violence, and the speaker comes across as violently deranged. Upon further examination, one realizes that the violent imagery is purely fantasy, while on the outside the speaker is completely genteel. One has to wonder if the speaker will be able to continue this balancing act, or if his inner thoughts will eventually be revealed, with catastrophic results. Conrad Aiken uses the contrast of colors, imagery, and reality versus fantasy to show the speaker's internal conflict and frustration with a passionless world.
The title of the poem immediately reveals a focus on the color red, and directs the audience to what it represents – blood. Blood can relate to violence and murder, but it can also relate to passion, connecting the mind to the human heart and warmth, and from there to the emotion of love. Aiken reveals that the color red, or blood, "is hidden under the suave flesh of women"... "it mounts from the heart to the temples." (2) The fact that the color red is hidden plays a strong role in this poem. In contrast to red, Aiken finds himself in a world of green and blue.
Although green may normally be connected to good health, and blue to a sense of calm, in this poem they are endless white noise to the speaker, and lack any passion. He says, "I tire of the green of this world. I am myself a mouth for blood." (3) The second line implies hunger or thirst for what blood represents. The speaker is desperate to find passion, color, vibrant life, violence – anything that will break up the calm monotony of the life he lives. He even says, "I have sought it in the grass," although grass would be a very unusual place to find the color itself, or anything it represents. (1)
Blue and green are also the colors that describe a woman the speaker appears to be in love with. Her eyes, "with the late sun in them" (5) are described as "blue pools dazzled with yellow petals," (5) which implies that the only reason he finds her eyes interesting is because of the warm yellow that adds excitement to them. This happens again later in a candle-lit room when he says her "hair is like spun fire."(11) Without the addition of warm light, the rest of her descriptions are very plain. She wears an emerald ring that the speaker gave to her, it is implied she wears green when the speaker says, "this pale green suits [her eyes] well," (5) and throughout the poem she doesn't say a word, only smiles. The green and blue that surround this girl give her a strong connection to the world around her. Although the speaker hates the green of the world, he tries to see the other colors in the girl, such as the yellow in her eyes from the sun, but on the inside he still grows to hate her.
Like the colors, the contrast of imagery shows a drastic difference between the world around the speaker, and what happens in his mind. This creates a strong push and pull of mood, varying from a light, romantic feeling, to a dark and violent rage, and back again. The first line, stating that "red is the color of blood, and [he] will seek it," (1) is unsettling, but Aiken immediately adds some poetic descriptions. He states that red "is the color of steep sun seen through eyelids," (1) uses soft words like "suave," "flows", and "quietly," (2) and then relates it to the sap in a rose. Immediately afterward, however, he describes himself as being "confused in webs and knots of scarlet, spun from the darkness, or shuttled from the mouths of thirsty spiders." (2) The reader is again left with an unsettling image, but one that accurately reflects the speaker's inner conflict because of the negative words, "webs," "knots," "darkness," and "spiders."
This wordplay continues throughout the poem, moving back and forth between soft, calming words, and dark, violent ones. There are many different little scenes in which the speaker seems to be showing his love a romantic evening. He describes the two walking together while the sun sets, and points out seagulls to her, but his mind is actually focused on her. While he uses these poetic scenes, he also shows disdain for typical poetic thoughts by wondering, "Why must we link things so?" after he uses roses to represent mouths. A stanza of the poem that reveals his violent thoughts is repeated for emphasis, once in the middle of the poem and again as the last stanza, only differing by a few words. This stanza contains an abundance of harsh, violent words, for example: "For I think of you, flung down brutal darkness, crushed and red, with pale face. I think of you, with your hair disordered and dripping. And myself, rising red from that embrace." (12) All of these things – the switches between soft words and imagery and violence, and from using poetic terms freely to criticizing them – creates a very contradicting picture, overall.
There is a large disparity between how the speaker feels on the inside and how he actually behaves on the outside. The poem expresses intense emotion, to the point where the speaker fantasizes about killing this girl that he loves but whom shows no passion for him, or anything else around her. He does seem to try to introduce her to his view on the world, telling her, "Look, how our shadows creep along the grave!-- And this way, how the gravel begins to shine!" (8) He urges her to throw away regrets, to "scatter them to the winds," (9) but this seems to have no effect on her. Aside from those small attempts, his outward behavior is usually radically different from how he feels on the inside. "Here is your finger, with an emerald on it," he says to her, "the one I gave you. I say these things politely -- but what I think beneath them, who can tell?" (6) He does this again when he points the seagulls out to her, but inside he doesn't care about the seagulls at all, he only cares about her.
These different romantic things: giving her a ring, walking with her at sunset, and trying to point out things that will interest her, don't have an impact on her at all, and certainly do not reflect what the speaker is truly thinking about. The lack of response from her continues to build up his frustration to the point where he would hurt her just to finally upset her prim outward appearance and forcibly acquire something that is real to him. The sense of restraint and formality in this world is stifling, and almost justifies the speaker's restless and desperate thoughts. However, he fails to actually break through the propriety that dominates the culture, and only plays into it instead. The conflict in the speaker, the push and pull between how he feels and how he behaves, is very strong and noticeable, thanks to the various contrasts Aiken provides. The combination of color symbolism, imagery, and reality contrasted with fantasy, creates a realistic and disturbing picture of the speaker and his desperation for passion in an overly prim and reserved world.
