04-06-2016, 06:01 AM
What Yeats saw in Millais’ painting
Ophelia lies
under the willow.
Leaf shadows flicker
where dragonflies and flowers
hover.
The shells of her ears,
half-hidden in the secret
weeds of her hair,
hear nothing.
Her sightless gaze reflects:
a fish-eye image, filigree
of shade and sky,
all of time since Caesar’s mind
moved in silence,
a long-legged fly.
https://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=h...ks%3Ds1200&imgrefurl=http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/-wGU6cT4JixtPA%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dkp%26hl%3Den%26projectId%3Dart-project&h=816&w=1200&tbnid=fpF7mdwMEBnIHM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=200&docid=78KU74HLSQmy7M&itg=1&usg=__sobka6AyNj68gF0h10yePgRA44w=
also referencing Yeat's poem http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/long-legged-fly/
Ophelia lies
under the willow.
Leaf shadows flicker
where dragonflies and flowers
hover.
The shells of her ears,
half-hidden in the secret
weeds of her hair,
hear nothing.
Her sightless gaze reflects:
a fish-eye image, filigree
of shade and sky,
all of time since Caesar’s mind
moved in silence,
a long-legged fly.
https://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=h...ks%3Ds1200&imgrefurl=http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/-wGU6cT4JixtPA%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dkp%26hl%3Den%26projectId%3Dart-project&h=816&w=1200&tbnid=fpF7mdwMEBnIHM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=200&docid=78KU74HLSQmy7M&itg=1&usg=__sobka6AyNj68gF0h10yePgRA44w=
also referencing Yeat's poem http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/long-legged-fly/