Stanza 214 - Explanation

Original Stanza

Here feelingly she weeps Troy’s painted woes,
For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell,
Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes;
Then little strength rings out the doleful knell.
So Lucrece set a-work, sad tales doth tell
To pencilled pensiveness and coloured sorrow;
She lends them words, and she their looks doth borrow.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Okay, let's break down this stanza from Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece:

Line-by-Line Breakdown:

• "Here feelingly she weeps Troy’s painted woes,"

  • feelingly: Deeply, emotionally, with sincere feeling.
  • Troy's painted woes: Refers to the depiction of the suffering of the city of Troy, likely in a tapestry or painting. "Painted" not only describes the visual representation but also suggests that the suffering is artfully presented, perhaps even stylized or idealized in a way that makes it more accessible to emotion.
  • Meaning: Lucrece weeps intensely over the images of the suffering and tragedy of the Trojan War depicted in art. This shows her capacity for empathy and her sensitivity to suffering.

• "For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell,"

  • Literary Device: Simile. This line starts a simile, comparing sorrow to a bell.
  • heavy-hanging bell: The image is of a large, heavy bell hanging in a tower, suggesting the weight and burden of sorrow.
  • Meaning: This introduces the idea that sorrow, like a heavy bell, has momentum and inertia.

• "Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes;"

  • Once set on ringing: Once started (experiencing sorrow)
  • with his own weight goes: The bell, due to its own weight, will continue to swing and ring once it is set in motion. "Goes" here means continues to move/ring.
  • Meaning: Once sorrow begins, it has a self-sustaining momentum. It's difficult to stop the grieving process once it has started because it feeds on itself.

• "Then little strength rings out the doleful knell."

  • little strength: Very little effort or force.
  • doleful knell: A mournful sound, often associated with death or tragedy. The "knell" refers specifically to the ringing of a bell at a funeral.
  • Meaning: After the initial impetus, only a small amount of energy is needed to continue the mournful process. The bell continues to toll, even with minimal prompting. Sorrow needs very little to keep ringing.

• "So Lucrece set a-work, sad tales doth tell"

  • set a-work: Engaged, activated, set in motion.
  • sad tales doth tell: Tells sad stories; expresses her grief.
  • Meaning: Just like the bell, Lucrece is now activated by her sorrow and begins to express her grief in stories and laments.

• "To pencilled pensiveness and coloured sorrow;"

  • pencilled pensiveness: Sadness and deep thought depicted in the painting she is looking at
  • coloured sorrow: The painted or represented sorrow in the artwork, emphasizing the visual aspect of her grief.
  • Meaning: She is directing her grief towards the representation of sorrow in the painting, engaging with it as a form of catharsis. She's essentially talking to the artwork.

• "She lends them words, and she their looks doth borrow."

  • lends them words: Lucrece gives the painted figures her own words to express their suffering.
  • she their looks doth borrow: She internalizes the expressions of sorrow from the artwork, reflecting them in her own face and demeanor.
  • Meaning: There's a reciprocal exchange between Lucrece and the artwork. She gives the painted figures her voice, and they, in turn, give her their visual representation of grief, allowing her to embody and express her own pain. She is both projecting onto the art and being influenced by it.

Overall Meaning:

This stanza describes how Lucrece, overwhelmed by her rape, finds a conduit for her grief in a painting of the Trojan War. The opening lines establish a powerful simile likening sorrow to a heavy bell: once it starts ringing, it continues with minimal effort, its own momentum sustaining it. This metaphor explains how Lucrece becomes immersed in her grief, unable to stop the process.

She empathizes with the depicted suffering of Troy, projecting her own pain onto the images. A reciprocal relationship develops: she gives words to the painted figures' sorrow, giving them voice, and in turn, she embodies their expressions, visually representing her own internal suffering. This highlights the power of art to both evoke and reflect profound human emotions. It emphasizes the cyclical and self-perpetuating nature of grief and the way it can consume someone once it takes hold. Ultimately, it shows Lucrece grappling with her trauma, seeking a language and a form to express the unspeakable.