Writing First Impressions on Lady Macbeth

[Eclectic]

In my English class, we're reading Shakespeare's [i]Macbeth[/i], which I love so far. Anyways, after finishing Act I, I wrote this poem about Lady Macbeth, who is my favoruite character so far for reasons still unknown and under investigation. Well, here's the poem.
-----
Sing your songs of purest joy
Feel the darkness within your heart
Show the warmth within your face
Feel the coldness you seem to radiate
Be the lovely and kind hostess who gives her home to others
Be the calculating murderer who plans the perfect crime
Be the wonderful wife who helps her husband
Be the merciless voice of temptation in his ear
Be the rose
Be the thorn
Be the wine
Be the poison
But never show your truest face
Show only the perfect mask
And the world will never know
-----
What do you think?

[Bullet Theory]

thats awesome. it was very emotional.

[Bio]

[size=1]I've never read the book, but that's a really great poem. I love poems like that, comparing dark and light, etc. Wether or not the comparison is made within one or more people.[/size]

[Dagger]

Heh, this thread is rather timely--today I finally took my insanely difficult English midterm, which focused solely on Macbeth. After re-reading the play six times over the course of my studying (I have a [i]really[/i] tough teacher, so doing that was actually somewhat justified), I've realized that Lady Macbeth's words stand out in a way that few of the other characters' do. She just has a really unique "voice," and her lines are definitely the easiest to identify.

About your poem: I love how almost every single line refers to at least one of Macbeth's themes.

[quote]Sing your songs of purest joy[/quote]
The opening isn't nearly as strong as the rest of the piece. It strikes me as being a little uncharacteristic of Lady Macbeth--even in moments of great personal triumph, she's never exactly exuberant. However, your use of the word "sing" brings to mind the play's frequent references to various kinds of birds, which is a nice touch.

[quote]Feel the darkness within your heart
Show the warmth within your face
Feel the coldness you seem to radiate
Be the lovely and kind hostess who gives her home to others
Be the calculating murderer who plans the perfect crime
Be the wonderful wife who helps her husband
Be the merciless voice of temptation in his ear[/quote]
Fair is foul, anyone? ^_-
I like how you set up this part of the poem, especially since references to coldness and warmth occur fairly often within Macbeth.

[quote]Be the rose
Be the thorn[/quote]
Those lines reflect the plants/seeds/growing motif, which is, ironically, first introduced by Duncan ("I have begun to plant thee and will labor to make thee full of growing".... or something like that. I don't currently have my text with me.)

[quote]Be the wine
Be the poison[/quote]
Simple, but beautifully structured. In Macbeth, wine serves as a symbol for the richness and fullness of life. How fitting that its mention should be followed by a command to "be the poison"--it's almost as though this poem was written by the "murdering ministers" that Lady Macbeth calls upon to "unsex" her and exchange her milk for gall.

[quote]But never show your truest face
Show only the perfect mask
And the world will never know[/quote]
The ending of your poem is very similar to Lady Macbeth's instructions to her husband (about concealing his murderous intent from his royal guests).

Overall, great job. ^_^

~Dagger~

[Artemis]

It's a great poem! I really like it. Lady Macbeth is such a chilling character. She's pretty much the Shakespearean equivalent to Euripides' Medea. They're both so [i]cold.[/i] However, LM has more depth, from what I can see. At least, the sleepwalking scene seems to show the guilt she feels. What's interesting is to compare her to Lady MacDuff. They're like polar opposites.