can be brought into view in another way. Those joint questions "who we are and . . . what we have to do" certainly sound like the stuff of monarchy. As a "daily self" like any of her subjects, however, this woman has concerns that make her one of "us" – her children, for example. (This "personal" approach marked several of Andrew Motion's, the outgoing Poet Laureate's, poems for royal occasions, too.) Alternatively, this fleeting moment of half-awake questions might be seen as a metaphor for the moment of transition, of assuming a role, that had just turned a princess into a queen.June 2nd, 1953
Madam, how strange to be your Majesty.
from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: June 2nd, 1953 by Vita Sackville-West
~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments :
Post a Comment