19 pages • 38-minute read
Talking in Bed
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Symbols & Motifs
The Bed
The word “bed” appears both in the title and in the first line of the poem. The bed and its two occupants make up an “emblem” (Line 3), which is an object or a picture of an object that symbolizes another object or idea—in this case, intimate and honest communication between lovers, as well as the warmth, comfort, and security that a bed provides. In this poem, the symbol of the bed might also be ironic, since what it might normally stand for is undermined by the poem’s theme, which is that no communication of any value is possible between the two individuals in the bed. Two people are physically close together in bed but in another, more important sense, they are far apart from each other. The bed becomes an ironic symbol of what people might reasonably want or expect but do not, in fact, experience.
The Wind
Like the bed, the wind acts as a symbol in the poem, although of a different kind. The couple in bed are unable to express their feelings openly and honestly. In that sense, they are stuck, and because they are not interacting with each other, “more and more time passes silently” (Line 4). Their inner worlds are likely full of restless and unsatisfied feelings with this silent, unnatural state of noncommunication., and in the second tercet, the wind blowing outside symbolizes the couples’ shared inner restlessness. The wind’s “incomplete unrest” (Line 5) is theirs too. Just as the wind continues to disperse “clouds about the sky” (Line 6), as if the process can never be completed, so too, do the minds of this mostly silent couple likely generate a continual stream of thoughts that are awkward, indecisive, frustrated, and confusing. Like the restless wind, their minds cannot be stilled, at least not in this situation. The thoughts running through their minds are like the clouds racing across the sky, which come to nothing like clouds that dissipate and move with the wind.
Negation
Negation is a recurring motif in the poem, which is more about what does not exist than what does actually exist. The world of the couple is defined by negation, by what they do not have, and the emptiness that results when the poem compares this absence to what the couple would ideally want. For this couple, there is no communication and no connection, neither with each other nor with the wider environment. There is also no means of knowing why things are as they are. Most humans long for fullness in life and love, yet “Talking in Bed” portrays a relationship characterized by emptiness and a great absence. Silence, darkness, and ignorance are realities for this couple, taking up space where meaning and love should be.
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