Author: R.S. Gwynn
Pages 365-366
In the poem "Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins," R.S. Gwynn uses irony and rhyme to assist in telling the story portrayed in the poem. An example of irony in the poem is "She knelt... as if a petitioner before the Pope." This line can be classified as irony because of the action she is performing to be kneeling in such a manner: she is picking up Sloth's dirty clothes. Typically when a person kneels before the Pope, she is seeking forgiveness for her transgressions and is offering herself to any necessary task for redemption. While the girl is performing a task, it is not a task for redemption. Rather, she is allowing herself to be enslaved to sin, rather than to righteousness, by cleaning up for the sin of laziness.
It also becomes noticeably more difficult for her to escape as the years go by. As she ages, the sins become greater, so she is no longer the "good Catholic girl." Snow White still confesses her sins to God or the Pope, but her wrongdoings pile up nonetheless. The ironic aspect of this detail is that theoretically, it should be more difficult to resist sin when a person is younger because she has a limited concept of consequences and rarely thinks out an event all the way to the end. As an adult, it should be easier to resist sin because this concept of sin has had a chance to develop, yet Snow White found it to be a greater struggle rather than a lesser one.
Gwynn also uses rhyme to enhance the meaning of the poem. The type of rhyme that he uses is masculine, the rhyme of a single syllable at the end of the poem. The rhyme contributes to the reading style of the poem, of course, but more importantly, it emphasizes the conclusion of the work. Snow White is rescued by a Handsome Prince, who was overall a very desirable fellow. "So debonair! So charming! And so Male." The rhyme scheme throughout the poem is masculine, and the rescuer at the end of the poem is also incredibly masculine. It gives the idea that there really was no other way for Snow White to be freed; only a man could save her from the sins that kept her hostage.
My interpretation of this poem is that sin becomes harder to get rid of as time goes by, and realistically everyone needs someone stronger to come save them. I would say that the poem is implying God for that stronger role, but for the description of the man as debonair and charming. So the poem could very well be saying that women are prone to sin and that they need a strong, handsome, and pure man to marry them to redeem their errors. It could be saying that women are utterly lost without a man, because of course they need a man to save them from their "distressed condition" and take them "to St. Anne's where [they] took the veil." The poem could be saying this, but I won't state is as my interpretation because I don't want to be the next Matt Peters or Chris Loos, especially since I myself am a girl and I do not agree precisely with this viewpoint.
Although it definitely, definitely sounds like it, "Beat it to St. Anne's where she took the veil" doesn't mean that she got married. It means that she became a nun. () After living with the Sins (which I interpret not as her own, but as those of the man with whom she shares a house), she was done with men. Notice that when the seven sins come home, only ONE car door slams, and then the Handsome Prince is, somehow, right outside. To me, this indicates that the "Prince" and slothful, proud, abusive, avaricious, and otherwise variously sinful dude who left her all the chores and messes are one and the same. Notice also that "Handsome Prince" is in italics, as are the names of the seven sins and the word "male."
ReplyDeleteShe didn't run TOWARD the prince; she "took a step, REVERSED, and, without slowing, beat it St. Anne's where she took the veil."