hello

[zee94]

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

[zee94]

any help in paying calls critical account.

[IfhamPain]

The poem has, as its theme the nostalgia or yearning for old relationships – old
friendships, which are no more because of the intervention of death. The poet is weighed
down by reminiscence and sadness. The title Paying Calls introduces a casual note to the
poem. The poem moves on this casual note. The poet fancifully “visits” old friends and
acquaintances that are no longer alive in various places that were popular with them in
the countryside. It is midsummer - warm and inviting for country walks – and the poet
strays far and wide (strayed here a mile and there a mile) remembering them, looking for
them. But curiously, although the air was tempting, no one had moved out from “Home”.
Home is associated with natural haunts – “mound and stone and tree” and the reader
comes to the shocking realization that the poet is not talking about living friends but
about those who are gone – those who have left this life. The charm of the poem or its
intricacy is in the two levels of meaning that the poet creates, through the very casual
tone. The poet is doing something very ‘usual’, very ‘routine’– calling on friends. At the
end, the reader realizes, it is no casual call, but a preoccupation with the past, with death.
“They spoke not to me” gives the clue to understanding the poem.

:prrr::prrr::prrr: