"Slim Cunning Hands" by Walter de la Mare

Walter de la Mare was born in Charlton, Kent, in the south of England, of well-to-do parents.He is considered one of modern literature's chief exemplars of the romantic imagination.

Slim Cunning Hands

Slim cunning hands at rest, and cozening eyes-
Under this stone one loved too wildly lies;
How false she was, no granite could declare;
Nor all earth's flowers, how fair.

In this poem, Walter de la Mare describes a woman, possibly his lover, who passed away. It is evident that her physical appearance was clearly important to him. With the diction and description that Walter provides, so much information is able to be conveyed in these four lines. He describes this woman as having "cunning hands" and "cozening eyes" which helps us interpret both her wildness and falsity; they suggest her cleverness and untrustworthiness as well as her skill, persuasion, and ability to please. This could be why he might have loved her. In the next two lines, the words "stone" and "granite" connote finality and portray her death. The flowers in the last line connote fragility and suggest the shortness of the woman's life. The second line in this poem can be taken in two different ways as a result of the syntax Walter used. One way is that their love was wild, but their were other men in the picture that were after the woman as well. Another way is that the word "lies" in the second line depicts the woman's lies because her falsity has, at this point, become too prominent to ignore. Finally, the word "fair" in the last line is a pretty loaded word. It speaks both to the woman's appearance and her character. It suggests how attractive the speaker finds her, but also how impartial she may be in her preferences, as the word "false" suggests.