Milli mála - 2019, Blaðsíða 97

Milli mála 11/2019 97
GREGORY ALAN PHIPPS
size that the presentation of the face is a continuous and incomplete
process.
How does this portrayal of the moon intersect with transforma-
tions in representations of blondness in mid nineteenth-century
America and Britain? The “ample” blonde forehead may refer to skin
colour, blonde bangs, or perhaps some form of dress, such as a bonnet
(which is mentioned in the final stanza). The femininity of the moon
and the references to blondness, gold, and amber call to mind associa-
tive interconnections between purity, fairness, and light-coloured
clothing, hair, and skin. As discussed, the mainstream valorization of
Jenny Lind as a performer turned in part on her ability to access a
social trend in which whiteness, blondness, and fairness were coded
visually to reinforce ideals of feminine virtue. These associations sur-
face through the depiction of the moon as a woman’s golden face, but
part of what is striking about this representation is the impression of
distance and remoteness that persists throughout the poem. In fact,
the full revelation of the face only accentuates its continued removal
from the viewer (that is, the reader). In the fourth stanza, the speaker
states that it would be a privilege for the reader to take on the role of
the “remotest star” because then the moon “might pass/Beside your
twinkling door.” The only way to approach closer to this elevated and
seemingly celestial object (or persona) is to become a similar object
oneself. If we read the unveiling of the moon as a feminized perfor-
mance, then it appears to be a slow exhibition of a celestial face, but
insofar as ideals of feminine purity are implied in the golden and
blonde colouring, they are allied more with inaccessibility than with
virtue.
Then again, the final stanza does point toward some of the volup-
tuousness and sensuality of stage performance, disrupting the ethe-
real luminosity of the face. This stanza diverges from the rest of the
poem by widening the frame to describe attire: “Her Bonnet is the
Firmament -/The Universe - Her shoe -/The Stars - the Trinkets at
Her Belt -.” There is some disjunction in these metaphors. The com-
ponent parts of attire are basic and unadorned, jarring against the
impressions of grandiosity and vastness created by the firmament,
universe, and stars. Also, the reference to trinkets deflates the opu-
lence of the gold and silver in the preceding stanzas. The bonnet,