The Voice (Rupert Brooke, 1909)

A Commentary Essay on The Voice by Rupert Brooke

     The Voice by Rupert Brooke describes an unsuccessful romance between the speaker and a female character. There are two main parts to the poem: the peaceful, solitary imagination of the speaker in regards to the romance and the ‘profaning’ reality. The latter part of the poem is designed intrinsically to contrast with the former part.

      From the title, the poet induces the reader to believe that there is some form of mystical theme to the poem, which is ironic since the actual ‘Voice’ is a ‘profaning’ of the solitudes. The use of the term ‘voice’ in these two manners reflects the speaker’s view of the woman in question: seemingly mystical and beautiful, but in reality a profanity to his beloved solitudes.

     The first two stanzas describing the setting have a much more euphonic mood due to constancy in the rhyme pattern and number of syllables, reflecting the speaker’s view of the setting: the peaceful solitudes. The speaker is calm in regards to the ‘woods’ and the ‘night’ and the constant traditional four line stanzas with a constant rhyme pattern reflect this. The speaker’s keenness to describe his imaginative views of the woman is displayed through the lengthened stanzas four and five. In contrast, the inconstancy in the rhyme pattern of the last five stanzas epitomizes the speaker’s frustration of the distraction that the woman seemingly poses.

  

     The poet describes the setting eloquently and the peaceful nature of the woods and night. The ‘high solitudes’ clearly portrays the scene as a peaceful and silent one that the speaker enjoys. Furthermore, the hushing of the birds and lacking wind exemplifies this quietness, peace and stillness. It contrasts with the harsh sound of ‘uproar’ ‘crashing’ and ‘platitudes’ described in the last five stanzas.

     Furthermore, continuous repetition of ‘woods’ and ‘night’ allows the reader to understand that the speaker is alone. It gives the impression of solitude, which is a vital theme in the poem.

The use of the personal possessive, ‘my’ adds to this effect of solitude, as does the phrase, ‘veiled by night’.

     Another aspect to note is the religious imagery and symbolism that the poet utilizes to further emphasise the contrast between his imagination of the woman and the reality. ‘…in the silence the hidden key of all that had hurt and puzzled me’ seems to be describing a religious understanding of the meaning of life. Furthermore, the ‘holy three’ seems to be an allusion to the Holy Trinity in Christian doctrine. While this could be an indication of the high expectation he had of the woman, it could also be the love he held for the three entities most important in his life. The woman’s inability to appreciate what the speaker believed to be equally important to him as her seems incompatible with what the speaker had imagined. The speaker had imagined that she would compliment the solitudes and wilds with him, while in contrast, she distracts from the solitude.

     Not only does the speaker seem to have a strong belief in this, he states that he ‘knew’ this, entailing certainty in his thoughts. This certainty and directness with his imagination implies that he has already in some way analyzed the woman in question and has deemed her able to co-exist with his love of the solitude.

     This imagery of solitude, beauty and religious symbolism is shattered by the words, ‘And suddenly’. This concise verse shows action in the poem and the adverb to describe it (i.e. suddenly) is typical in poetry to entail action. The continuation with the diction of the word, ‘uproar’ is an effective manner that the poet uses to convey the contrast with the quietness. This sudden breaking of the beautiful scene is a reflection of the distaste that the poet wishes to convey.

A further example of this distaste in the last five stanzas is the poet’s diction of the words, ‘platitude’ and ‘solitude’. The poet wishes to provide a contrast between these two words. This is made clear by the use of rhyme in using these two words. While the two words rhyme and have the same number of syllables, the word, ‘platitude’ has a plosive sound in its beginning consonants. The adjectives for the word ‘platitudes’ also have plosive sounds, denoting further distaste on the part of the poet.

     The lines in stanza eight allude to the first stanzas and directly contrast the symbols used in these verses. For example, ‘the spell was broken’ draws the reader’s attention to the ‘magic of my woods’. In doing so, he ensures that the reader’s perception of the stillness and calmness is directly crushed.

    The first mention of the title within the poem is capitalized. This is notable, since it adds more to the directness of the conveyance of the poet. He wishes to specify that the voice is not a voice from a broad source. Without specifying at that point whence it came, the poet conveys that there is a singular source to this ‘Voice’. It appears as though in a way, the capitalization of ‘Voice’ was done instead of using a definite article, adding to the directness of his tone.

      Successive verses contrast themselves from the first verses of the poem, quoting the woman in question. These quotes provide directness to the poet’s conveyance. This directness is further emphasized by the threefold repetition of, ‘you said’, in the second person.

While the speaker’s bias distorts the idea of truth in any form of literature, it is possible to infer that the speaker is exaggerating from his diction of words to describe the woman in question. He describes her as having, ‘ignorant feet’ and ‘a swishing dress’. Further, he states that she ‘quacked’. The impact of this word is clear: he is likening the woman to an animal. From this, it is clear to see that the speaker is overly critical to the point of exaggeration.

     The final stanza, however, is the most impactful. It states, ‘By God! I wish - - I wish that you were dead!’. Its directness and exaggeration is paramount to concluding the poem. The previous three or four stanzas intend to build to this moment in which he not only censures the woman but also does so to the point of insult. His attack on the character of the woman reaches its extremes by the concluding verse.

     To conclude, the speaker is willing to go to great lengths to go describe the haven of his solitudes. His imaginations are keen and unrealistic: almost religious. It appears as though he had a general and symbolic tone in the first five stanzas but he swiftly breaks this tone in the last stanzas through directness in his tone and breaking from the symbolism. Then, by the point he makes his final remarks, it is evident that the direct nature of his tone reaches a peak. His unrealistic ideas are broken and he is keen to show that they are broken in such a direct manner, in contrast to the indirect and symbolic nature of the first five stanzas. There is also clear exaggeration throughout and this reaches a new peak in the last verse. The main idea of the poem seems to be a contrast not only between imagination and reality, in regards to the woman, it appears that the speaker wishes to convey his love of the solitude compared to this woman who breaks it. This resonant idea has its conclusions when the speaker states, ‘by God, I wish… I wish that you were dead’. The speaker has made his decision: it is of no concern to him whose fault it is that the union did not last. He prefers the magic of his woods and night in his solitude and he will tolerate no ‘profaning the solitudes’ – even if it is by a woman he dearly loved.

Safe in the magic of my woods

   I lay, and watched the dying light.

Faint in the pale high solitudes,

   And washed with rain and veiled by night,

Silver and blue and green were showing.

   And the dark woods grew darker still;

And birds were hushed; and peace was growing;

   And quietness crept up the hill;

   And no wind was blowing

And I knew

That this was the hour of knowing,

And the night and the woods and you

Were one together, and I should find

Soon in the silence the hidden key

Of all that had hurt and puzzled me---

Why you were you, and the night was kind,

And the woods were part of the heart of me.

And there I waited breathlessly,

Alone; and slowly the holy three,

The three that I loved, together grew

One, in the hour of knowing,

Night, and the woods, and you------

And suddenly

There was an uproar in my woods,

The noise of a fool in mock distress,

Crashing and laughing and blindly going,

Of ignorant feet and a swishing dress,

And a Voice profaning the solitudes.

The spell was broken, the key denied me

And at length your flat clear voice beside me

Mouthed cheerful clear flat platitudes.

You came and quacked beside me in the wood.

You said, "The view from here is very good!"

You said, "It's nice to be alone a bit!"

And, "How the days are drawing out!" you said.

You said, "The sunset's pretty, isn't it?"

              *            *            *            *            *

By God! I wish---I wish that you were dead!