Even In A Flour Mill Laboratory, Poetic Images Occur Comments

I am only sorry that I can't visualise the technicalities of the scene, since I am certain there is much more in this poem than I can fully understand. Still, the principles are clear, and the title, just by itself, says much.

Jim has given a neat review on your good write, Lillian...lovely analogies there...life...its pulverising realities...hopes...faith...and the Supreme Judge...thanks...10

In one of the apocryphal gospels Jesus is reported to say, “The kingdom of God is all around us, but men don’t see it.” So it is with poetry. This is just one magnificent example. The initial simile draws the analogy: ash oven: : human heart. From then on, the poetry takes over, drawing analogy after analogy in perceptive, dramatic images as the “hot mouth” of the heart takes in, digests, burns, spews out “cruder pars, ” “residue[s] of sin, ” “uglier motives.” In the end, the speaker’s “small wafer of soul” is all that remains to be weighed by God’s fair “balance.” The heart’s centrality, the essential honesty of the heart in this poem, is the lever upon which the balance of God’s judgment will depend. The Biblical allusions add a strong spiritual element to the workings of the human heart, and of human existence at its very core. The sharp, well-drawn images, and the direct analogies give this poem its great emotional, suggestive power. A great poetic imagination is patently at work here, Ms. Thomas. Powerful. Passionate. Sensual. Great work.