Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale’s poems are centered on a woman’s changing perspectives on love, beauty,and death. Teasdale’s poems are often founded on developments of her own life, ranging from her life as a sheltered young woman in St. Louis to those of a successful yet uneasy writer in New York City, to a depressed and disillusioned person who would commit suicide in 1933. In Dark of the Moon (1926), Teasdale demonstrates her sensitivity to language . Marguerite Wilkinson, a writer in the New York Times Book Review and Magazine noted Teasdale’s poetic development as “...Sara Teasdale has found a philosophy of life and death, having grown intellectually since the publication of her earlier books.”
Fear |
Analysis |
I am afraid, oh I am so afraid!
The cold black fear is clutching me to-night As long ago when they would take the light And leave the little child who would have prayed, (5)Frozen and sleepless at the thought of death. My heart that beats too fast will rest too soon; I shall not know if it be night or noon, -- Yet shall I struggle in the dark for breath? Will no one fight the Terror for my sake, (10)The heavy darkness that no dawn will break? How can they leave me in that dark alone, Who loved the joy of light and warmth so much, And thrilled so with the sense of sound and touch, -- How can they shut me underneath a stone? |
This poem opens with the character blatantly stating that she is afraid of the dark. The lines "as long ago when they would take the light and leave the little child who would have prayed," (lines 3-4) display this, as "taking away the light" is another term for turning the lights off, which allows darkness to fill the area. As the character lays in the dark, he/she feels as if their heart will work too hard and kill her, however, she still wonders if the dark may kill her first, as the poem goes "My heart that beats too fast will rest too soon; I shall not know if it be night or noon, -- Yet shall I struggle in the dark for breath?" (lines 6-8). Furthermore, the character feels as if the darkness that lays around her is impenetrable, and begins to wonder how she could be abandoned. (lines 10-11) The poem closes with the character pondering on how she could be shut underneath a stone and left to die surrounded by what she fears most, the dark. (line 14) In this poem, we see two types of fear: the fear of the dark, and the fear of being left alone. The character's fear runs strong, as she is surrounded by the dark and isolated from any point of contact with any other human being; at least, we assume. |