Non sum qualms - dowson Flashcards
What is the significance of the rhyme/rhythm in the poem?
The poem consists of 4 stanzas, each with 6 lines, featuring an alternate rhyme scheme (ABACBC). The rhyme is not strictly adhered to, reflecting the speaker’s unruly behavior.
How does Decadence influence the poem?
The poem embodies the speaker’s miserable lament while indulging in expensive pleasures like food and wine. The Decadent movement focused on self-indulgence, eroticism, and rebelliousness, shocking Victorians who valued virtuous literature.
What does the speaker’s inability to forget his former lover signify?
The speaker experiences perversity by remembering Cynara while with a new lover, finding perverse pleasure in her memory despite his new relationships. He uses prostitutes and has an ambiguous definition of faithfulness ‘in my fashion’.
How does the speaker express a love of excess?
He recounts excessive emotionalism and behavior to forget Cynara, but these efforts create an image of hysteria and madness. The structure reinforces this, with every 4th line reminding him of his desolation and every 6th providing a guilty justification.
How is unrequited love and obsession presented in the poem?
Cynara represents an unattainable love, and despite being with other women, his thoughts return to her. Archaic language conveys weariness, while a semantic field of passion evokes desire. Caesura around her name shows her profound effect on his life.
What role does repetition play in the poem?
The repetition of ‘desolate and sick’ suggests he is a slave to his love for Cynara. The last line of each stanza serves as a refrain, reflecting the cyclical nature of his love.
How does the speaker use alliteration?
‘Flung roses, roses riotously’ creates contrasting tones that mimic his confused mental state.
What does the poem say about sexual freedom and prostitution?
‘Bought red mouth’ indicates he uses prostitutes to forget Cynara.
How is uncontrollable obsession depicted?
‘Betwixt her lips and mine there fell thy shadow Cynara’ shows her influence infiltrating everything he does, with her shadow suggesting darkness and the unconscious mind.
How is love and loss presented in the poem?
The speaker laments Cynara’s loss, using emphatic sounds like ‘ah’ and ‘yea’. To numb the pain, he seeks pleasure through indulgence, but Cynara remains in his mind, creating a dichotomy between her absence and his emotional presence.
How does the poem compare to ‘La Belle Dame’?
Unlike the knight in ‘La Belle Dame’, whose love is completely gone, Cynara’s presence lingers in Dowson’s poem, causing profound grief due to unattainable love.
What does ‘upon my soul between the kisses and the wine’ imply?
It suggests a special connection with Cynara, contrasting with loveless encounters with prostitutes, indicating a deeper, spiritual love.
