Milli mála - 2019, Blaðsíða 100

100 Milli mála 11/2019
GILDED CR EATUR ES STR A INING A N D DY ING
suggests a desire to see as much of this figure as possible. From this
perspective, the shifts between gold, blonde, and amber are based on
an intimate scrutiny that only becomes more intense as more of the
feminine performer is revealed. The poem never takes up the possible
ramifications of a burlesque show, but this might be because the
performance ends prematurely with the sudden shift towards dawn.
“You’ve seen Balloons set - Hav’nt You?” (Fr730), another poem
written in 1863, develops a different and arguably more complex
portrait of the conflicts between feminized ethereality and bodily
performance. The poem is a heavily metaphorical depiction of a bal-
loon rising and falling. The question in the opening line proves to be
a bit misleading since it implies that the balloon descends slowly, like
either the moon or the sun, when in fact it gets ripped open by a tree
and falls into the sea. Lesley Wheeler notes that this “tragic balloon”
bears a resemblance to the “fallen women populating nineteenth-
century literature, who ambitiously soar and then fatally stumble”
(134). Suzanne Juhasz and Cristanne Miller develop an analogous
reading, arguing that the description of the balloon as a “Gilded
Creature” (Fr730) may refer to a “painted woman,” which could imply
a prostitute, actor, or “any woman whose livelihood depends on repu-
tation or public respect” (121). Jessee argues that the balloon repre-
sents a woman performer (probably a ballerina) who collapses as she
tries to live up to audience expectations (16). I agree that the balloon
may represent a woman’s performance in front of an audience, invok-
ing public entertainers in general, and perhaps Jenny Lind in particu-
lar. However, the interrelated constellations of colour that include
blondness, gilt, and whiteness bring out a series of internal conflicts
and tensions in the poem, complicating the relationship between the
public ascent and subsequent crash.
The opening line of the poem implicates the reader as an observer
of the lofty ascent: “You’ve seen Balloons set - Hav’nt You?” The
question might be genuine or rhetorical, depending on the tone.
There could also be a touch of condescension in the inquiry—a sense
that the reader should have seen this sight. The hint of supercilious-
ness continues in the next lines, with the speaker comparing the bal-
loons to swans that have “discarded You,/For Duties Diamond -.” At
the same time, the poem veers away from the opening question about