Stanza 157 - Explanation

Original Stanza

Thus cavils she with every thing she sees:
True grief is fond and testy as a child,
Who wayward once, his mood with nought agrees:
Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild;
Continuance tames the one; the other wild,
Like an unpractised swimmer plunging still,
With too much labour drowns for want of skill.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Okay, let's break down stanza 157 of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece line by line, identifying literary devices, and then discuss the overall meaning:

Line-by-Line Breakdown:

• "Thus cavils she with every thing she sees:"

  • Cavils: To raise trivial and frivolous objections. Lucrece finds fault with everything around her.
  • She: Refers to Lucrece.
  • Meaning: Lucrece, overwhelmed by her grief and trauma, is finding fault with everything she looks at. She's picking at the smallest things, unable to find solace anywhere. This demonstrates how her internal state is projecting outwards, contaminating her perception of the external world.

• "True grief is fond and testy as a child,"

  • Fond: Foolish, or overly trusting, sometimes endearing.
  • Testy: Irritable, easily annoyed.
  • As a child: Begins an extended simile.
  • Meaning: True grief is presented as being childish in its behavior. It's foolish and overly trusting in that it leaves one vulnerable to the pain, and also irritable and easily upset. This connects Lucrece's current state to a state of helplessness and emotional instability.

• "Who wayward once, his mood with nought agrees:"

  • Wayward: Difficult to control or predict because of unusual or perverse behavior.
  • Nought agrees: Nothing pleases, nothing can satisfy.
  • Meaning: Continuing the child simile, a grieving person, once they are in a bad mood, cannot be appeased or satisfied by anything. Nothing seems right or good enough. This emphasizes the irrationality and consuming nature of grief.

• "Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild;"

  • Old woes: Long-standing sorrows, grief that has endured.
  • Infant sorrows: Newly experienced grief.
  • Bear them mild: Endure them calmly, accept them with patience.
  • Meaning: Grief that has been around for a long time is handled with more composure than the first sting of a new grief. Familiarity with sorrow can breed a sort of resigned acceptance. The key contrast lies with 'old' and 'infant' sorrows, which are juxtaposed to emphasize how time impacts grief.

• "Continuance tames the one; the other wild,"

  • Continuance: The passage of time.
  • Tames the one: The older grief becomes subdued.
  • The other wild: The new grief remains untamed and uncontrollable.
  • Meaning: Continuing the contrast between new and old grief, the passage of time eventually helps to tame or soften old grief, whereas new grief is untamed and feels wild. This is a concise restatement of the previous line, further emphasizing the effect of time on grief.

• "Like an unpractised swimmer plunging still,"

  • Unpractised swimmer: A person who doesn't know how to swim well.
  • Plunging still: Constantly struggling and sinking.
  • Meaning: Another simile is introduced comparing new grief to an unpracticed swimmer. The person is still plunging/drowning, trying to survive, but lacking the skill to navigate the pain properly.

• "With too much labour drowns for want of skill."

  • Too much labour: Exerting too much effort.
  • Drowns: Overwhelmed.
  • Want of skill: Lacking the ability or experience.
  • Meaning: The person in new grief, expends all their energy struggling against the pain, but because they lack the experience or ability to cope, they become overwhelmed and drowned in their grief. It's the lack of coping mechanisms that leads to devastation.

Literary Devices:

• Simile: Several extended similes are present throughout the stanza.
  • "True grief is...as a child" compares grief to a child.
  • "Like an unpractised swimmer" compares new grief to someone struggling in the water.
• Contrast/Juxtaposition: The stanza sets up a clear contrast between old grief and new grief ("Old woes, not infant sorrows"). This comparison is central to the stanza's meaning.
• Personification: Grief is personified as a "child" with moods and behaviors.
• Metaphor: Grief is implicitly a metaphor for a turbulent sea in the swimmer simile.
• Imagery: The "unpractised swimmer" creates vivid imagery of struggle and drowning.
• Alliteration: "Want of skill" uses alliteration to emphasize the lack of coping mechanisms.
• Aphorism: The line "Continuance tames the one; the other wild" can be taken as a general truth about the impact of time on sorrow.

Overall Meaning:

This stanza explores the nature of grief, particularly the difference between new and old sorrow. It argues that new grief is like a child: irrational, easily agitated, and insatiable. It also compares new grief to an inexperienced swimmer who exhausts themself in the struggle to stay afloat, ultimately drowning. In contrast, old grief is tamed by time and experience, allowing one to bear it more calmly. Ultimately, the stanza emphasizes the overwhelming and disorienting nature of fresh grief, contrasting it with the more manageable and tempered state of grief that has had time to heal. It suggests that coping with new trauma requires skill and experience, and that a lack of these can lead to being completely overwhelmed. In the context of The Rape of Lucrece, this stanza prefigures Lucrece's inability to cope with the fresh trauma she has suffered, leading to her tragic suicide. She is drowning in a sea of grief, and she lacks the skills to swim.