"Rainbow Sleeves" from The Orchid Door: Ancient Korean Poems
I recently began a poetry criticism blog, more directly connected to my studies. I will also be posting those entries here in future.
The Orchid Door book online: HTML, PDF
According to Brother Anthony's site, The Orchid Door is a book of poetry by Joan Grigsby adapted from Korean originals. The poem "Rainbow Sleeves" below is from this collection. Like many of her Western Modernist contemporaries, Grigsby appears to have been drawn to a culture and aesthetic very different from that of her upbringing. Living in Korea, Grigsby engaged in creative re-envisioning of traditional Korean poems in a manner that highlighted the concerns of women: more specifically, the concerns of Western women confined to domestic spaces, acted through Korean people and places. "Rainbow Sleeves" is written along these lines.
Rainbow Sleeves (Anon.)
Her rainbow sleeves are gay as golden wine
Poured from a silver flask to porcelain bowls.
Between the guests she moves. Their wet lips shine.
Their eyes grow dry and hot as burning coals,
Watching her bend to pour their perfumed wine,
Watching her rainbow sleeves above the bowls.
One gives her amber beads like honeyed light,
Another, coral drops for her to wear
Like folded peach buds in her ears tonight,
While one sets bright blue feathers in her hair.
Gay are her sleeves!
Yet, in the lanterns' light,
Her face - a peony flower - reveals despair.
The description "rainbow sleeves" recalls the brightly-colored striped sleeves of the jeogori, the jacket of the hanbok, the traditional Korean women's dress. The serving woman's costume provides a cheerful vision for her guests. She provides, while her male guests consume, as their "wet lips" suggest, sensually.
The guests' eyes, "dry and hot as burning coals," reveal that their desire to consume has now turned to the woman. Perhaps looking for sexual favors, the guests provide her with sumptuous gifts. The gifts complement her beauty and enhance their pleasure in observing her. As "one sets bright blue feathers in her hair," she is transformed into a bird, albeit a caged one.
Described in contrast to the woman's bright sleeves, the "despair" upon her "peony flower" face's expression is the only statement of her personhood, though even the face itself is objectified, perhaps exoticized, by the speaker, as it is compared to a flower with Asian connotations.
The overall situation and "rainbow sleeves" remind me of the old English poem Greensleeves.
A new Courtly Sonnet, of the Ladie Greensleeves.
Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
And I have lov-ed you so long
Delighting in your companie
(Chorus)Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves was my heart of gold
And who but my Ladie Greensleeves
I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever you would crave,
I have both waged life and land,
Your love and good-will for to have.
(Chorus)
I bought thee kerchers to thy head,
That were wrought fine and gallantly
I kept thee both boord and bed
Which cost my purse well favouredly
(Chorus)
I bought thee petticoats of the best,
The cloth so fine as might be;
I gave thee jewels for thy chest,
And all this cost I spent on thee.
The speaker of "Greensleeves" continues to list his expenditures on the lady, who will not bestow favors despite accepting his gifts. Meanwhile, the green of her sleeves suggests gaiety or promiscuity misconstrued by the speaker. In both poems, the woman's colorful sleeves serve as a false indicator of joy in contrast to her disconnection from the male admirer(s).
Yet, "Greensleeves" retains her independence, while "Rainbow Sleeves" wades through nights of despair. The fixedness of her costume and position suggest that she is locked into her dilemma with no hope of escape.
"Rainbow Sleeves" also suggests, in a broader sense, the falseness and spiritual barrenness of a society structured entirely around exchange of materials and services; in short, a poem that may speak much more to the conditions of Modernist women like Grigsby who felt stifled by conditions at home and went abroad to find themselves in a separate space.
The Orchid Door book online: HTML, PDF
According to Brother Anthony's site, The Orchid Door is a book of poetry by Joan Grigsby adapted from Korean originals. The poem "Rainbow Sleeves" below is from this collection. Like many of her Western Modernist contemporaries, Grigsby appears to have been drawn to a culture and aesthetic very different from that of her upbringing. Living in Korea, Grigsby engaged in creative re-envisioning of traditional Korean poems in a manner that highlighted the concerns of women: more specifically, the concerns of Western women confined to domestic spaces, acted through Korean people and places. "Rainbow Sleeves" is written along these lines.
Rainbow Sleeves (Anon.)
Her rainbow sleeves are gay as golden wine
Poured from a silver flask to porcelain bowls.
Between the guests she moves. Their wet lips shine.
Their eyes grow dry and hot as burning coals,
Watching her bend to pour their perfumed wine,
Watching her rainbow sleeves above the bowls.
One gives her amber beads like honeyed light,
Another, coral drops for her to wear
Like folded peach buds in her ears tonight,
While one sets bright blue feathers in her hair.
Gay are her sleeves!
Yet, in the lanterns' light,
Her face - a peony flower - reveals despair.
The description "rainbow sleeves" recalls the brightly-colored striped sleeves of the jeogori, the jacket of the hanbok, the traditional Korean women's dress. The serving woman's costume provides a cheerful vision for her guests. She provides, while her male guests consume, as their "wet lips" suggest, sensually.
The guests' eyes, "dry and hot as burning coals," reveal that their desire to consume has now turned to the woman. Perhaps looking for sexual favors, the guests provide her with sumptuous gifts. The gifts complement her beauty and enhance their pleasure in observing her. As "one sets bright blue feathers in her hair," she is transformed into a bird, albeit a caged one.
Described in contrast to the woman's bright sleeves, the "despair" upon her "peony flower" face's expression is the only statement of her personhood, though even the face itself is objectified, perhaps exoticized, by the speaker, as it is compared to a flower with Asian connotations.
The overall situation and "rainbow sleeves" remind me of the old English poem Greensleeves.
A new Courtly Sonnet, of the Ladie Greensleeves.
Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
And I have lov-ed you so long
Delighting in your companie
(Chorus)Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves was my heart of gold
And who but my Ladie Greensleeves
I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever you would crave,
I have both waged life and land,
Your love and good-will for to have.
(Chorus)
I bought thee kerchers to thy head,
That were wrought fine and gallantly
I kept thee both boord and bed
Which cost my purse well favouredly
(Chorus)
I bought thee petticoats of the best,
The cloth so fine as might be;
I gave thee jewels for thy chest,
And all this cost I spent on thee.
The speaker of "Greensleeves" continues to list his expenditures on the lady, who will not bestow favors despite accepting his gifts. Meanwhile, the green of her sleeves suggests gaiety or promiscuity misconstrued by the speaker. In both poems, the woman's colorful sleeves serve as a false indicator of joy in contrast to her disconnection from the male admirer(s).
Yet, "Greensleeves" retains her independence, while "Rainbow Sleeves" wades through nights of despair. The fixedness of her costume and position suggest that she is locked into her dilemma with no hope of escape.
"Rainbow Sleeves" also suggests, in a broader sense, the falseness and spiritual barrenness of a society structured entirely around exchange of materials and services; in short, a poem that may speak much more to the conditions of Modernist women like Grigsby who felt stifled by conditions at home and went abroad to find themselves in a separate space.