What do you think is the meaning of Angela Manalang Gloria's poem "Querida"?

Question

I've been researching a lot on the correct interpretation of this poem, but the sources regarding her poems are very scanty...
Thank you

Querida* (1940)

The door is closed, the curtains drawn within
One room, a brilliant question mark of light...
Outside her gate an empty limousine
Waits in the brimming emptiness of night.

note: the poem is not a translation. It was written in English by a Filipina (Philippines) English writer, it was written sometime in the year 1940.

erratum in the first note: I mean Filipina/Philippine writer in English.

Answer 1

I don't know that there is such a thing as "correct interpretation." All literary arts are interpretive, and interpretation is always subjective. With just four lines, it's more of an image being created than a specific message being given, anyway.

What we have is a dark house, with light visible in only one room. There's a limousine waiting outside. This poem creates a lot of questions ("a brilliant question mark of light"), and doesn't resolve any. What is the limo waiting for? If it's there to pick someone up (which it presumably is, since it's waiting), why is the house so closed up? Is there a secret rendezvous about to happen? The title, "Querida (i.e.- beloved)" would seem to indicate this.

I think the power of the poem is that it captures a moment where something's obviously about to happen, but we don't actually get to "see" anything happening. It hints at everything and reveals nothing.

Answer 2

Querida means beloved or darling in Spanish, feminine gender.
Is this a poor woman who lives in a one-room house? It would seem to be. If she was waiting for a limo to pick her up, would she not have more lights in the house (a bigger house than one room)? Why is the limo empty? Where is the driver?

Is this the whole poem? After the second line there are those little dots (I forget what they are called), that sometimes indicate missing parts

I get the feeling that this is a woman for hire, that she has to be discreet and thus closes the curtains to keep out prying yes while she is in the room with the man. I suppose the chauffeur is off somewhere--told to go to a bar for a few hours or something.
If the woman is not poor, but just discreet, it still makes sense, though. But why would the empty limo still be there? You would think a secret assignation would be more secret if the man told the chauffeur to drive it away.

Is this a translation? I wonder what the original word would have been for "brimming" if that were the case. How can emptiness be brimming? Kind of an oxymoron. Maybe it's meant to suggest that importance of this clandestine meeting.
It could even have a hint of secret dealings in politics--in a country like Chile or Argentina under a dictatorship. Who knows? It would be good to know something about the author.

Answer 3

This is a "mistress" poem...but more than just a mistress, the implication is of a "lover", a "sweetheart". The poem appears pretty straight forward: a rich man is inside a one flat apartment or small house, enjoying the company of his lover, his "Querida". That "brilliant question mark of light" refers to how it is viewed by those outside in the "empty darkness". This is both a description and how passersby would react to a single, solitary light in an otherwise darkened house and street. Even a candle seems bright in the darkness, and a single candle can be seen from far away if there is no other competing light. So it is that this light is "brilliant" when compared with the darkness outside. And outside "her" gate, an empty limousine...so you know her visitor/lover is a man of wealth...and the night is so dark and devoid of other people that it is absolutely "brimming" with emptiness. Why is the limousine empty? where is the driver? One might think the driver was the one inside the house, or perhaps guarding the door to the house...but in fact, it is probably a statement of perception...the limo is empty because it's "passenger" is not in it... in other words, the driver and the limo are indistinguishable...and are "waiting" for the man to return.

The poem is about a man seeing his lover, knowing all he has outside is an empty limousine for comfort...a symbol of having everything, only to find it hollow without love.

Answer 4

I think the" brimming emptiness of night" is reflective of the closed door and the drawn curtain.
The room with the light on is the foyer and reflective of the limousine, both waiting .

The poem is a comparison of the inside to outside, both seem void of meaning.

The room with the light is the foyer reflective of the empty waiting limousine, both waiting.

The activity or meeting behind the drawn curtain and the brimming night both are hidden or secret or about to be ended rendering the title to the poem a lie or a sardonic statement..

I get the impression that the limo driver is inside with the visitor acting as the witness to the end of a love affair.

This is my reading. The door is closed, the lights are out and the night is empty and the limo is waiting empty. There is nothing redeeming about this poem but the title and I think this is the real clue the the intention behind the poem.

Today , 2007 , it would be

Okay! Sweetheart, Fine!

Answer 5

My best guessing is that it was either written by or composed by: Is: The place to me I feel might be a limosine !?! & ofcourse the curtain is that of the one between the back seat & the drivers seat !! the question mark is the street lights that hang over the streets!?! the rest speaks for itself.. seems like some deep thought while in the limo was going on !?! `'R'`r.r`r,r'.-

Answer 6

I "think" Querida means beloved - the lines apparently refer to the setting, implying someone is at her house. I won't speculate beyond that, as other questions occur to me - like - if it is a limousine, was there a driver and where is he/she in all this?

Answer 7

Querida - A man's mistress.

Adulterer.

This should answer your question.