"The cold, cold moon above her head, Thus on her knees did Goody pray, Young Harry heard what she had said, And icy-cold he turned away." In this quote we see a sort of coldness of Harry Gill. Not simply the obvious physical cold read throughout the whole poem, but a coldness of heart. Once Harry catches Goody Blake trespassing and stealing, she prays to Heaven and Harry turns away. I don't believe that Harry is a compassionate man, especially if he waited long days to catch his trespasser. On the other hand, Goody seemed somewhat warmer at heart. The cold that chatters the teeth of Harry Gill never leaves his body. The word cold is used in a sense of cold-heartedness and lacking God. I think he realizes at the end of the poem when he finally does catch Goody Blake that it simply was not worth it. The cold days were synonymic to the cold that was in his heart, and Harry would now never know the feeling of that warmth. Now unfortunately he realizes how "useless" the matter was, and for his actions it seems he will never be warm. This poem expresses the idea of knowing what is important in life and what is not, and how to deal different situations. Harry had made a bad decision and will regret it. Maybe he needed more of God in his life to keep him warm.
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Teddy -
ReplyDeleteHarry's figurative coldness is certainly key to leading him to his fated punishment. At the end of the entry you begin to speculate on what message may be intended through these ideas about coldness. A clearly-stated claim about this sort of significance would make a very good beginning to build your entry off.