In the aftermath (section xix) of the abortion postulated by Shreiber and the end of her relationship, the speaker struggles to impose a meaning that mimics her own loss onto natural images:
[…]
The “light” imagery from the first section returns here, but now aligns with the natural images of “fireflies” and the “green-lit glow-worm,” instead of with the human-made firecrackers and lanterns of before. Though natural images often suggest new life and movement, the “pulses” and energy the speaker describes here are now merely “recaptured” and no longer maintain their fresh and explosive natures. As the supernatural qualities of love fade into the mundane earth, the light becomes “slowly drenched” into “raylessness,” which depicts the dwindling of hope following the heartbreak (Loy 61). The first person “I” disappears completely in this section—only “you” remains. The speaker loses her sense of self briefly and attempts to realign her “you” with the strictly naturalistic human realm, removing him from his elevated status as “Superhuman” (61, 59).
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