Friday, January 9, 2015

I am looking for a critical analysis of the poem "Twa Corbies" by anonymous.what is the poem about? this would involve theme or subject(intro...

I've seen a few of these interpretations online, and all of them fail to mention something I think is rather important -- the knight was very likely slain by his lady, who then left him to be with her new lover.  The second raven (corbie) tells the first that the knight is 'newly slain' -- he didn't die from an accident or any natural causes, he was slain.  But only three other beings know where his body lies: his hound, his hawk, and his lady.  If anyone should know where the knight's body is, it would be his killer.  Since it's unlikely his hound or hawk killed him, that leaves his unfaithful lady, who certainly has a motive to kill him.


This really is the only logical interpretation.  Not only does his lady have a motive to kill him, she has a motive to leave his body somewhere it is unlikely to be discovered and properly buried.  If she weren't his killer, she'd really have no reason to leave him to such a fate.  Also, if she didn't kill him, someone else did, which means there's a fourth being who knows where the knight lies.  If the second raven's account of things is to be trusted, this isn't the case.  Therefore, the faithless lady must be the knight's killer.


So amid all the imagery of death and desolation, there's a little murder mystery hidden in this poem.

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