In his poem “Gray Room”, Wallace Stevens is portraying the feelings of a bored girl who is sitting in a room, the color of which is described as grey. The color of the room is said to be grey because of the reason that the room depicts the feelings of the girl which are neither black nor white. The girl is depressed with her life.
The poet says “ I know how furiously your heart is beating” which means the poet can easily understand the turmoil which is going on in the heart of the girl, though from outside she is showing that she is all right. The poet is depicting his own imagination and his own art in this poem. He wants the readers to sympathize with the girl who has everything she wants in her life but is still not happy. The poet also points out the fact that happiness is not found in larger things in life, it is as a matter of fact found in smaller things.
Some people fail to realize this fact as a result of which their hearts are neither black nor white, they are somewhere in between- grey. Their hearts are grey colored. The poet actually gives color to the feeling of boredom that is witnessed by many girls today. They have everything in life that they wish for but still in the race of life, they forget to admire the little things in life as a result of which they end up being frustrated.
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The girl is a character of fiction created by the poet and he also insists the readers to enter into the mold of this character created by him. When the poet says “What is all this?” he means that despite the character has created such life for herself, but she is left with the question as to what all this is which clearly means that she is not at all happy with her life. He also insists on the fact that at least a few things in life can be known for certain. For example we are sure of the fact that our heart pounds day and night till the moment we are alive.
The woman is standing in a pale gown and she stare in the room, looks at the fan; she is actually clueless about her surroundings because of the pain in her heart which refuses to go away. This is in fact the situation of the hearts of all the women who fail to find happiness in small things in life and run after larger things, the things which they are not satisfied with once they attain them. There lies a deep meaning in the poem which the poet is keen on conveying to his readers. Finding happiness in smaller things in life will help in life being colorful and the shades of grey will eventually disappear.