Prisoners

Prisoners – the title says much. For me, just the use of that word fills me with a feeling of sadness. Denise Levertov is a known for her socio-political poetry http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=4048 and this poem speaks to that theme. I get a taste (pun intended) that the poem references the prison we have locked ourselves inside of in this world we as a society have created. The poem begins and ends with ‘death’ and what or how it might be waiting for us at the end of our very ordinary lives (long journey). Although she says: It’s not joy that we’ve lost (16) I think, my opinion only, that we did loose joy and common happiness when we lost the old apple of knowledge (22). The old apple that gripped us was filled with surprises, we didn’t know if it was going to be firm, tart, delectable (23-25) as opposed to the ashen apple of these current days – ashen: old, dull, grey – already picked for us – no surprises left.