Tynan Portillo presents, featuring the works of Edgar Allan Poe and the best horror stories of the 19th century. Welcome to The Poe Show podcast. Music and narration by Tynan Portillo.
Today’s episode, Loneliness by Katherine Mansfield.
Now it is Loneliness who comes at night
Instead of Sleep, to sit beside my bed.
Like a tired child I lie and wait her tread,
I watch her softly blowing out the light.
Motionless sitting, neither left or right
She turns, and weary, weary droops her head.
She, too, is old; she, too, has fought the fight.
So, with the laurel she is garlanded.
Through the sad dark the slowly ebbing tide
Breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied.
A strange wind flows… then silence. I am fain
To turn to Loneliness, to take her hand,
Cling to her, waiting, till the barren land
Fills with the dreadful monotone of rain
Hello from The Poe Show, I’m Tynan Portillo. I read this poem recently and I feel that many people are feeling lonely right now. So I hope we can connect a bit more with each other through this poem.
This poem starts with the word “now.” It’s kind of sudden. Now it is Loneliness who comes at night instead of Sleep. Just…almost surprising. And she too has fought the fight, but she wears a laurel, which is a symbol in Greek mythology of having won a victory. She made it, her battle is over.
But the slowly ebbing tide breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied - almost as if the water itself was reaching a hand out to something or someone, waiting. Waiting and reaching for someone who’s not there. Then a strange wind blows, then silence. Perhaps the whispering of a soul passing by, or the quiet comfort of Mother Earth. Katherine writes that she is fain to turn to loneliness, this means she’s glad to turn to Loneliness, and takes her by the hand…waiting. And Katherine is glad to wait until the barren land is filled with the monotone of rain.
One thing that I appreciate about this poem is that there’s no period at the end. I double checked that on other websites that feature this poem, and some do have a period. But many others don’t end the poem with a period, which I take to mean the original poem didn’t end with a period either. Which means that the journey of the poem is ongoing; the trek of Loneliness is not one which has ended, it’s ongoing, coming in waves like the tide. But the rain is an interesting detail.
Rain is usually associated with sad things nowadays, which is possible for this poem, but I believe the rain has two possible interpretations. One: it is a cleansing of loneliness, during which Loneliness will once again be on her own way and the speaker of the poem shall move on. Or two: the barren land which the tide reaches out to will be blessed and have rain to grow fruit; a form of renewal and life. Not an explicitly happy renewal, such as would be associated with flowers or springtime, but a renewal nonetheless.
In either case, the rain is still dreadful and monotonous; the rain is constant and unchanging. Katherine Mansfield experienced quite a bit of loneliness during her life, and if you’d like to hear more about her life then you can listen to the episode on this podcast called Leves Amores. But to give a refresher, she was bisexual at the very least, had many torrential relationships, and suffered from tuberculosis for years until she died (which would have isolated her from others). Being one of 5 siblings, she was also deemed the least attractive of her sisters. And her brother Leslie Beacham, with whom she had the strongest connection, had been killed during World War I. There were many things which she struggled with that, significantly due to the time period but also in general, would have left her feeling the deepest sense of loneliness.
This gets back to what I’ve said before on this podcast. Sometimes a poem is just about an experience, a feeling, and it doesn’t have to have a proper story structure. Katherine Mansfield definitely tried to get away from that in her writing, but it made her work all the more direct and personal. Something that tugs at our hearts, and takes our hand, waiting with us in our Loneliness.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Poe Show. If you enjoyed it, please like, subscribe, share and send in a fanmail text message to this podcast using the link below, then I’ll answer any questions or suggestions you have for the podcast in the next episode. I’m on Bluesky now at thepoeshow.bsky.social and on TikTok @poeshowpodcast cause apparently we got that back now? Remember you can find me on ACX for Audible as a narrator or email poeshowpod@gmail.com to contact me about your voiceover project. Just as well, if you’re an author who deals with the macabre and gothic horror genre and would like to have me narrate one of your stories, you can email poeshowpod@gmail.com.
That’s all for now. But you’ll hear from me again on the next episode of The Poe Show.
