La Figlia Che Pinange

“La Figlia Che Piange” is a poem by Thomas Stearns Eliot, which was printed in Prufock and Other Observations in 1917. In this poem, Eliot describes a very familiar incident to the readers: A breakup, which is not something mutual in the poem. It is unexpected for the female. However, Eliot does not focus on the female and her suffering. In contrast, he, I think, wants to display how the man, who wishes to break up, suffers and how he is paralyzed by the breakup. Of course, one may interpret the speaker as female, but in this paper, I will examine the poem by assuming the speaker as a male and I will also focus on how the structure and the use of some tropes enhance the theme of the poem. The poem consists of three big stanzas, which create a songlike poem although they do
not have a certain rhyme scheme and meter. The interesting thing, however, is the relationship between the stanzas. They are aligned with the order of the breakup process. In other words, each stanza displays a specific stage of a break up. For example, in the first stanza, the breakup scene is described whereas in the third stanza, we witness the speaker’s feelings after the breakup. This alignment gives a sense of passing time and I believe that the length of the each stanza shows the density of each stage. In the first stanza, which is rhymed as abacbca, Eliot sets the mood by using many imperatives like stand and lean. As well as the imperatives, with the use of visual images such as flowers, sunlight and garden urn, we become a part of the scene. Like a passer-by, we witness the meeting of the lovers. However, with the words like fugitive resentment and pained surprise, which is an oxymoron, we sense that there is something wrong:
“Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise-
Fling them to the ground and turn
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes.” (Lines 4-6)
The speaker comes and the girl throws the flowers from her hand.
His coming is not a pleasant surprise because, from the next stanza, we understand that he comes to offer to end their relationship. The second stanza starts with anaphora “So I would have…” and the repetition of “would” modal creates a sense of obligation. Also in these lines, the perspective is always changing which leads to a confusion:
“So I would have had him leave
So I would have had her stand and grieve
So he would have left…” (Lines 8-10)
For lines 8 and 9, it can be said that it is written by the perspective of the female who considers herself as guilty because of his leaving. In other words, she thinks herself as the reason of this breakup. What an unpleasant thought that men lead us to think! On the other hand, our real speaker constantly seeks a way to console her because all he thinks is how he upsets the girl. Line 13 “I should find”, for example, is deliberately cut short in order to create a suspense. What is the thing you should find? The next lines give the answer:
“Some way incomparably light and deft
Some way we both should understand
Simple and faithless as a smile and shake of the hand.” (Lines
14-16)

As it can be seen, the speaker tries to find a peaceful way to break up. No reason is given to us. He needs just a way that he does not upset the girl. This, I think, is about authority. The speaker considers that everything is under his control. He can break up. He can stop her grieving as if he feels nothing. In the third stanza, however, a very different situation is given:
“She turned away, but with the autumn weather
Compelled my imagination many days,
Many days and many hours…” (Lines 17-19)

Time has passed but the speaker still considers that day and that moment. In a way, he has stayed where he is. The girl went and probably never came back. Maybe she got over it, we cannot know but one thing is certain that the speaker is paralyzed. This is the irony of the whole poem. Eliot actually creates an image of emotionally strong man with the first two stanzas, yet now he destroys that image. For instance, in line 21 “And I wonder how they should have been together!” They do refer to the girl and him, not flowers. He still wants her. It is so sad. A last thing I want to add is the title. It is Italian and it roughly means “a girl who weeps”. It is far-fetched idea but the title may refer to the speaker not the girl since in the end, we learn that he is the one who has still troubles with the breakup. All in all, for the ones who are curious about the poem because of its lovely Italian title like me, I suggest that you should be prepared for the sadness because one can end up smoking and thinking the past. One way or another, we face a breakup and always wonder what the others think. Eliot reflects what the other thinks, what he experiences by arranging stanzas in a very smart way. The poem flows because everything occurs in the same way as in reality