who wrote the poem..?

Question

i do not think the ending can be right,
how can they marry and live happily
forever, these who were so passionate
at chapters end? once they settled in
the quiet the quiet country house, what will they do,
so many miles from anywhere?
the blond(i thinks its supposed to be blind) ancestral ghosts crowding the stair,
surley they disapprove? ah me,
i fear love will catch cold and die.
from pacing naked through those drafty halls nigh after night. poor frank poor imogene.
before then now their lives
stretch empty as great empire beds.
after stripped by envious chambermaids.

there is another verse but does anyone know from that?

Answer 1

But That Is Another Story
by Donald Justice

“But That Is Another Story” Interpretation
Often the ambiguity of a poem’s meaning is assisted by its length: is the poet saying more to be definitive or to create flexibility for interpretation by readers? Donald Justice presents a prospective scenario following the archetypal “…and they lived happily ever after” storybook couple in his poem “But That Is Another Story.” Readers can interpret possible meanings of the poem through examining the poem’s diction, meter, structure, and internal context.

Justice is ambiguous from the start of the poem: a reader must decide whether the speaker is the narrative voice, or in fact the author. Not knowing anything about the author, a reader can choose “I” to mean the narrative voice, and from this decision, interpret the poem only with the characteristics of the narrative voice displayed in the poem, discarding Justice’s own possible feelings towards the subject. Reading through the third line, it becomes clear the speaker is referring to the “ending” to a story where a married couple lives “happily forever.” The narrative voice raises the objection of it not being an ending at all, but really, only a symbolic ending: while marriage signifies the literal ending of a phase in one’s life, the “ending” being referred to is really the beginning of married life. The speaker wants to know “What happens next?” and does not find the explanation of living “happily forever” plausible. By noting the couple being “passionate at chapter’s end,” the narrative voice raises the issue of passion not ensuring longevity: they could have come together quickly out of passion (sexual desire) for each other, and this does not necessarily mean they will be happy for the rest of their lives. “Once they are settled in/The quite country house/what will they do,/so many miles from anywhere?” The notion of “settling down” with one person has come to be known as the domestication of one’s life, the building of a family, possibly with children. The impending isolation means concentration on the upkeep of the household like the relationship, and possibly the arduous task of raising children. This lack of diversity in activities could mean a stifling of interests for either husband or wife, as each has experienced the transition from a previously autonomous life to a role in a collective life, and the change could be positive or negative. “What will they do…?” is not asked out of ignorance, but rhetorically, knowing what settling down “in (a) quiet country house” entails. Whether it is known to them at the time, settling down surely means significant changes for the lifestyles of both the husband and the wife. Justice probably wants a reader to take notice of the movement of the poem, so he changes the line length to nine syllables, varying from the five consecutive lines each having ten syllables. Following this line is further movement towards something, what exactly the reader does not yet know, but surely Justice has given us a clue to some change taking place.

Proceeding the nine-syllable line 6 is a cryptic question that could be interpreted two ways. “Those blond ancestral ghosts crowding the stair/Surely they disapprove?” Who are “they?” If “they” are the husband and wife, then they are probably disapproving of the presence of the ghosts. But if “they” are actually the ghosts, then what do they disapprove of? Since these are “ancestral ghosts,” they could be the husband’s or wife’s parents or grandparents, who were once passionate newly-weds. Should this be the case, the ghosts “crowding the stair” (blocking the entrance to the house) could mean their objection to settling down. The ghosts know about married life, unlike the couple about to settle down, and the speaker is inspired by the ghosts’ married lives: “Ah me/I fear love will catch cold and die/From pacing naked through those drafty halls/Night after night.” Justice’s personification of “love” works in two ways here. Why would love be pacing the halls naked instead of being naked in bed? Passion has left the bedroom, figurative speaking; they have stopped making love. Thus when their love is no longer in their bed, it dies. (Or, literally, when they stop having sex, they stop loving each other.) This time Justice uses an enjambed line to indicate some movement or change in the poem’s direction, and by now the reader may realize the shift is towards the fate of the couple’s marriage.

The speaker does not favor either the husband or the wife, but rather has pity on the overall (potential) dying of love. (“Poor Frank! Poor Imogene!”) This lack of sexual love and consequent lack of emotional love changes Frank and Imogene’s dispositions. “Before them now their lives/Stretch empty as great Empire beds/After the lovers rise and the damp sheets/Are stripped by envious chambermaids.” What is unfortunate to the speaker is that Frank and Imogene’s love lives will be unfulfilled. The bed has been a venue for love: this is what the chambermaids are jealous of; they do not have love or sex in their lives. To say Frank and Imogene’s lives will be empty without sex supports the notion that without sex their love for each other will cease; their lives could still be fulfilling if they had each other’s love.

Justice ends the stanza and ends the one hypothetical demise of Frank and Imogene’s marriage, to begin the second stanza by revisiting Frank and Imogene’s wedding night. This serves as the speaker’s explanation for his/her original prospective look at their marriage, as the bridge for the earlier leap taken by the speaker (that their sexual love would cease). “And if the first night passes brightly enough,/What with the bonfires lit with old love letters,/That is no inexhaustible fuel, perhaps?” The speaker’s metaphor of “bonfires lit with old love letters” surely means the sexual passion between Frank and Imogene for each other, which had been ignited by their pre-marriage sentiments and affections. Apparently the speaker believes this figurative fuel is not enough to sustain their desire for each other, and that their love and love-induced passion must be renewed. Coming out of chronological order, this notion echoes the dismal future of the marriage set forth in the prior stanza, and a reader will agree “That is no inexhaustible fuel,” with the first scenario in mind. The speaker then makes an interesting concession, that what he/she has suggested is speculative: “God knows how it must end, not I.” The lines that follow suggest the speaker has reason to think that it will end, and that he/she can therefore speculate how.

“Will Frank walk out one day/Alone through the ruined orchard with his stick,/Strewing the path with lissome heads/Of buttercups?” The first significant feature is the “ruined orchard,” symbolic of their love no longer blossoming each year, renewed. Secondly, a reader may wonder “Why isn’t Frank picking flowers for Imogene?” Not only is he not picking them for her because of a lack of affection, but the flowers might as well be destroyed because he does not love her any longer. Furthermore, Frank does not love anyone else, as symbolized by his solitude, nor could not love anyone else, as indicated by his negative outlook (the orchard is ruined, as his love life has been, and the flowers are destroyed because they serve no use to him). In contrast (as signified by the enjambed line, a clue of importance from Justice) stands Imogene’s potential act: “Will Imogene/Conceal in the crotches of old trees/Love notes for beardless gardeners and such?” Justice’s diction in this line is essential to the line’s meaning: “old trees” (trees that do not blossom any longer) house acts of Imogene’s desperation for love in their “crotches” (unlike the loins of Imogene and Frank which no longer have passion for each other). Imogene needs sexual love from younger men, so she offers love notes to inspire sexual love the way the love letters she and Frank exchanged lit their “bonfire” (sexual passion). It is not fair to assume Frank has become impotent even if the connotation suggests such, for the speaker never says why their love leaves the bedroom to “catch cold and die” (why they stop having sex and consequently stop loving each other). Though impotence is a possible explanation, it could also be that Imogene is experiencing aging issues and thus seeks intimacy with younger men (“beardless gardeners”) because of her own insecurities. “Meanwhile they quarrel and make it up/Only to quarrel again.” Neither of them is acknowledging their situation, and the repeating cycle indicates they are both pretending things are the way they were, only to continually find they are not.

Justice makes one last shift, in the midst of an enjambed line, from lines varying in length throughout the second stanza, to the four final lines having regularity, signifying the couple’s consistency and security. “A sudden storm/Pulls the last fences down./Now moonstruck sheep/Stray through the garden all night peering in/At the exhausted lovers where they sleep.” Frank and Imogene no longer isolate themselves from each other, as the “storm” (sex) “pulls the…fences down” reuniting them. Their world is brighter, lit by the moon (“moonstruck sheep”); they are still lovers, and “exhausted” (from sex), they sleep together, without ominous clouds in their sky. The speaker can speculate how their marriage will fail, but he/she is not convinced it must.

Answer 2

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