Slim Cunning Hands by Walter De La Mare

Walter De La Mare is a modern example of romantic poets who writes about abstract ideas such as death, dreams, emotions, and childhood fantasy worlds. He also writes novel which are just as comparable in excellence to his poetry.

Slim Cunning Hands

Slim cunning hands at rest, and cozening eyes-
Under this stone one loved too wildly lies;
How false she was, no granite could declare;
Nor all earth's flowers, how fair.

This poem if you understand it, is pretty dark. It explores the untimely death of a beautiful women and the man that loved her, but it also openly clearly tells "how false she was" as a person. The reason that so much information is able to be conveyed in four short lines is because of the diction and clever descriptions that the author provides. In the first line, the words "cunning" and "cozening" show that the woman was a clever liar, and because of this the reader begins to wonder if that is one of the reasons that the man loved her. The next line explores both her deceptiveness as well as her untimely death. The word "wildly" again gets at her being out of control but the word "stone" begins a series of word choices ("granite" and "flowers"included)  that hint at death and the brevity of life. These concrete words provide a vivid description for the reader about a tombstone and an easily destroyed life. Both of which generate clear pictures in the minds of the readers heightening the purpose of description in the poem. The flower is a metaphor for life in the sense that it is fragile and can end so quickly. This is an example of how words can also have double meanings because the flower also can be understood as a literal flower that is placed on a tombstone or around the casket at a funeral. The description in this poem is brought about through the diction which is what typically happens in a poem. Diction also develops the situation, setting, and tone, once again reinforcing the idea that all aspects of poetry are interrelated and it is hard to have one without the others.