Poem: He Had Such Quiet Eyes

He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those wuiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

If only she’d been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’

Now here’s a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really nice
Then you’ll never be losing at dice
Though you lose your heart once or twice

1968 Bibsy Soenharjo

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SYNOPSIS

In this poem, the poet talks about the betrayal of a young girl’s feelings for a man. She believes in his sincerity to her as he had pleaded to her to surrender to him. She is taken in by his quiet eyes. If she had listened to advice about men who seek pleasure, she would not be in this situation. The poet advises all young girls to be careful and not be betrayed by men.

MORAL VALUES

Don’t be naive and believe everything we are told especially in matters of the heart. We must be careful when choosing friends.Falling in love is normal but one should be careful. We must learn from the experience of other people.

TONE, MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Reflective
• Sad and happy
• Sympathetic

POINT OF VIEW

• Second and third person points of view

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• Simple and easy to understand
• Simple style with rhyming scheme

POETIC DEVICES

• Imagery – e.g. ‘pools of lies’, ‘layered in thinnest ice’
• Symbol – e.g ‘quiet eyes’, ‘dice’
• Alliteration – e.g ‘lies layered’
• Personification – e.g The eyes were ‘breathing the desolate sighs’ as though he was talking charmingly to her