HE HAD SUCH QUIET EYES

Bibsy Soenharjo

He Had Such Quiet Eyes Bibsy Soenharjo He had such quiet eyes She did not realise They were two pools of lies Layered with thinnest ice To her, those were quiet eyes Were breathing desolate sighs Imploring her to be nice And to render him paradise If only shed been wise And had listened to the advice Never to compromise With pleasure-seeking guys Shed be free from the hows and whys Now heres a bit of advice Be sure that nice really means nice Then youll never be losing at dice Though you may lose your heart at one or twice

THE POET

Bibsy Soenharjo

An Indonesian poet, well-versed in Indonesian, English, French and Dutch Her poems are characterized by rhymes , wit, verbal puns and alliteration Her imagination draws the readers into the world of fantasy and surprises Her sense of humor is engaging.

THE CONCEPT MAP OF THE POEM

The poem deals with the issue of deception in society, especially in matters of the heart. It is about a woman who has been deceived by man with quiet eyes. The woman was blinded by the mans quiet eyes who actually wants to have pleasure with her only. Readers are advised not be deceived easily by outward appearances Language: free verse; flows gently and freely as the poet narrates. Ryhmes Personificaton Metaphor

A place where a man can charm and seduce a lady

The Third Person (Stanza 1&2) The Poet (Stanza 3)

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

SETTING
PERSONA
Deception

OVERVIEW

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

THEMES

The love trap Wisdom

TONE AND MOOD MORAL VALUES

Sadness and regrets due to unwise actions. Didactic: when the persona gives advice in stanza 3.

MESSAGES
Learn from mistakes Appearances can be deceptive

Do not be fooled by outward appearances or sweet talk Listen to advice

He Had Such Quiet Eyes STANZA 1 He had such quiet eyes She did not realise They were two pools of lies

Layered with thinnest ice

To her, those were quiet eyes Were breathing desolate sighs Imploring her to be nice And to render him paradise

STANZA 2

If only shed been wise

And had listened to the advice Never to compromise With pleasure-seeking guys Shed be free from the hows and whys

STANZA 3 Now heres a bit of advice Be sure that nice really means nice Then youll never be losing at dice Though you may lose your heart at one or twice

TIME
Probably a quiet evening. Set in the present.

SOCIAL SETTING
Middle-class, young working people.

PLACE
No specific physical setting. It can be a quiet place in town or city, where a man charms a lady into believing him and to fall in love with him.

Two Personas:
a) Stanza 1 & 2 : the persona is the third person ( the one who observes the folly of the young woman being seduced)

b)Stanza 3

the persona is the poet.

DECEPTION
From this poem, a young woman is lured by the insincere charm and romantic pretences of a man. The young woman is deceived by a man who deliberately sets out to woo her to satisfy his own bad intentions and not because of love.

THE LOVE TRAP

This is a twin theme which snares the unwary and the innocent.

Taken in by the charms of the opposite sex, many people fall in love, only to be duped.

WISDOM
This theme is portrayed poem. in the

One can learn from ones mistake and learn to discern right from wrong. It is the beginning of maturity. It is also wise to listen to good advice to prevent us from making too many mistakes in life.

LEARN FROM MISTAKES

We must be able to learn from our mistakes. We should not give up and lose our heart if we make a mistake as it gives us the opportunity to be more experienced.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY APPEARANCE OR SWEET TALK We must be careful about whom we trust and how much we can trust them.

We must be alert with someones outward appearances, personality or disposition as they can be very deceiving.
We cannot simply believe a person at face value, as this means that we are gullible and thus easily deceived.

LISTEN TO ADVICE A wise person will always listen to advice given.

Seeking counsel and advice helps a person to make the best decision or choice.
A good advice will save from doing unwise actions and time.

Appreciate that people have good intentions when they give advice.

SADNESS AND REGRET

*This is based on Stanza 2.

*The persona sounds sad and regret due to the unwise taken by the woman. *The woman in the poem also sounds sad and regretful of what had happened to her.

DIDACTIC

*This is based on Stanza 3.

tone when she gives advice to the woman and to the readers

*The persona sets a didactic

*The tone is also gentle

throughout the poem.

Language
Free verse and speaks in a conversational style. The lines flow gently and freely as the poet narrates the poem.

Personification The mans eyes become alive as they were breathing desolate sighs , like a human being. The sad and pleading look the man gave the victim tugs at her heart and she gives in to him.

Metaphor 1
The poet describes the mans eyes as two pools of lies. We can almost visualize the mans eyes as two inviting clear pools of water, charming the young woman into believing everything that he says.

Metaphor 2
layered with thinnest ice indicates that the man hid his true intentions well that the woman was totally deceived. In real life, when the ice breaks , it may cause a lot of damage to the victim.

Metaphor 3
losing at dice refers to the gambles a person takes when making a decisions. The poet compares making wrong or harmful choices in life to throwing the dice in a board game.

Rhyme
The last word in every line of the poem ends with the pronunciation a I z or a I s, for example, lines 1-2 ( eyes/realize); and lines 14-15 ( advice/nice)

Alliteration The sound s is repeated throughout the poem.

This could imply that the man in the poem is like hissing snake: dangerous, sneaky and cunning.