The poem
Whence did all that fury come? From empty tomb or Virgin womb? Saint Joseph thought the world would melt But liked the way his finger smelt.
A Stick Of Incense
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- Leo227 words
Thiz poeme is wierd. Why does he smill his fingerr?
Yeats often tried to imagine what contact with the divine would be like - there's Leda and the Swan, for example, and also a poem called 'The Mother of God', which tries to imagine what the annunciation was like for Mary. This is more a witty, blasphemous glance at the subject. I assume the 'fury' is the passionate feeling created by Christianity down the years, and that the tomb and the womb refer to the end and…
Read the whole commentYeats often tried to imagine what contact with the divine would be like - there's Leda and the Swan, for example, and also a poem called 'The Mother of God', which tries to imagine what the annunciation was like for Mary.
This is more a witty, blasphemous glance at the subject. I assume the 'fury' is the passionate feeling created by Christianity down the years, and that the tomb and the womb refer to the end and beginning of Christ's life (Yeats often wished it was possible to have a second go at starting Christianity and wondered if Christ's mission had gone seriously wrong.)
Then in the last two lines he shifts his attention to St Joseph, reeling under the shock of what has happened to his wife. But what HAS happened to Mary? How are we to understand the conception that led to the virgin birth? About Leda being raped by Zeus, Yeats asked 'Did she put on his knowledge with his power?' Well, did the physical woman Mary carry traces of divinity about with her afterwards, and what would they have been like? Yeats glances mockingly at the incense of Catholicism and imagines Mary's body - or more specifically her vagina - carrying the perfume. Which is why Joseph is smelling his finger.
(The poet Robert Graves was disgusted by this poem, by the way.)