Departure in the Dark

Poem Analysis: Departure in the Dark

I must admit, I chose to review this poem because the name seemed to suggest that it was more recent. The poem was written by C. Day-Lewis, a British poet, and former communist. I haven't been able to find out when the poem was written, but I thinks it's from the 30s, due to the style of writing, which is not evocative to me of anything from the 50s on. The poem is a pessimistic and dreary.. You know what, I don't even know what it is. It describes the feeling of leaving your house in the early morning of the winter, an act which I quite enjoy, as sharply reminding a man he is mortal. My interpretation of that statement is that the cold, and darkness lead the man to realize that he is but a mortal being on earth, almost insignificant in the scope of things. The poet then goes on to verbally loll about his poem, using such unused words as: "clemming", or "inverate". The former apparently means starving (clem - to starve) , and the latter, " Firmly and long established; deep-rooted". Interesting, anyways, Day-Lewis was so glum when he was writing this, that he even went on to declare that: "Drear, extinct is the world,
And has no voice for consolation or presage.", which I take to mean that the world seems abandoned in the early morning, and that the man feels very alone. Next, the poem begins to take greater, direction, mentioning passover, and then the Israelites. He says that "No doubt for the Israelites that early morning
It was hard to be sure
If home were prison or prison home: the desire
Going forth meets the desire returning." In essence, he begins to compare the feeling of the man, leaving his house in the early morning for a trip, to that of the Jews leaving Egypt, and fleeing Pharaoh. We end the poem with a declaration by Lewis that "There's a kind of release
And a kind of torment in every goodbye for every man–
And will be, even to the last of his dark departures." This is a fantastic ending to an interesting poem. With regards to poetic devices, simile does appear, though looking at it, I'm not able to see much else based on the list I have here. That being said, I have a feeling that much of the poem is a metaphor for something else. He makes use of very grand language, talking about the worlds being gloomed, and starved by an imminent ice age. Over all, there was more to it than I first realized, but it remains a thick, and mysterious composition.