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Analysis of "Bright Stars" by Moira Egan

Original poem reprinted online here: "Bright Stars" by Moira Egan
Originally read: August 2, 2014
More information about the Poet: Moira Egan



This is a reference to Keat's famous poem "Bright Star."  The form is the same -- an Elizabethan Sonnet, but the perspective has more of a dual-sided edge than "Bright Star."

The offset line, "And yet, 0 Morning Star, look what you've done" guides the reader on how to see this poem -- note the spelling of zero by the actual number -- the focus, primarily is going to be the usage of sentence structure, and the poem is going to look forward to what is done.

"Of late I've be obsessing (tendencies? / you know, the Plathy and poetic ones?) The poem turns from the speaker to allusion.  Does obsessing = tendencies?  No, but in the context to these lines the focus is on the micro of tendencies -- what does one do when observing tendencies?  And what type of tendencies?  The speaker defines tendencies as two different aspects -- turn Plathy into an adjective to form an allusion.  Suicide? Most likely.  Poetic ones? A sense of hyper-editing.

"so you bust out this pre-dawn pageantry / including, though not limited to, two extremely gleaming planets"  I think the core to these lines is figuring out who the "you" refers to.  And I think the "you" refers to Keat's or rather the image of Keats in which the speaker conjures.  It is this character that brings out "pageantry"  and the filler lines of "including, though not limited to," seems like an assured grasp to figure out reasons.

"(Venus & Mars / just for tonight inveigled into truce?)"  It is not the image in the poem, it is the representation.  Two different "planets" are in a truce, but not exactly getting a long.  There's the indication that there was once a war.

"The moon a perfect curlicue of butter -- / a scene to lull even the most sleepless"  The trick with this line is how "lull even the most sleepless" is interpreted.  Yes, it could mean that the images and references are boring, but how about this?  What if lulling someone is just putting someone in a safe sense of security that, "to be wakened by the boom / of sunrise synaethesia, who luscious / colors, tisane, grapefute infuse the room."  The expectation of image, of something from nothing.

"so fully I forget the walls are white / and why I lay there worrying all night."  What does the speaker want in this poem?  Peace, perhaps.  But what does bringing in image, color, feeling, emotion, wonder bring to the speaker, worry.  Worrying for what?  Expecting something to come, or expecting something to go away.

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