Yoli doesn’t want Elf to waste it all by throwing her life away. Elf is beautiful, talented, and sophisticated, which is everything Yoli wants but will never be. Part of the reason Yoli wants to protect her sister and save her is because she looks up to her so much. That play around a sainted infant’s head.Īlthough the poem was a favorite of Elf’s and became a part of her signature when she was young, the poem can be seen from the point of view of Yoli. Her polish’d wit as mild as lambent glories I’ve view’d her soul affectionate yet wise, As I’ve gotten further into the book, I’ve noticed more bits of Coleridge’s piece and how it connects to the sisters’ relationship. I talked in an earlier post about Samuel Coleridge’s ‘To A Friend, With An Unfinished Poem’, the poem from which All My Puny Sorrows takes its title. Does she seek adventure in a possible life after death? Elf uses this poem to express herself maybe part of the reason she wants to die is because she is bored of this life.
Larkin wonders what will happen when he dies, but doctors are running to prevent him from trying anything. He says, “Where can we live but days?/ Ah, solving that question / Brings the priest and the doctor.” This definitely seems like it is referencing attempted suicide. In this poem, the narrator ponders on what happens at the end of life. This is an interesting choice for Elf to make.
As a reply, Elf recites ‘Days’ by Philip Larkin (while performing a strip tease and successfully forcing the priest out of the room). Poetry plays a huge part of the novel, and outside of Yoli’s memories and conversations with Elf, poetry is the only other insight into Elf’s mind.Įlf receives a hospital visit from her old priest, who tells her to embrace God again, because only then will she find the joy in life.
We aren’t able to truly tell how much pain Elf is feeling, so like Yoli, we can’t really understand why she wants to die so badly. In a previous post, I talked about how telling the story from Yoli’s perspective conceals a lot of the story.
How is poetry incorporated into All My Puny Sorrows and what effect does it have on the meaning/interpretation of the book?
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