The poet has presented the wonders of a woman’s body in a frolic and frivolous tone through this poem. “When she moved, she moved more ways than one” is to present the gorgeous beauty of the woman’s body through her movements. With a tone of wistful wanting and amusement the poet takes the reader to a man’s experience in the splendor of vision as well as makes him experience the joy and the pain that comes with loving, aging and wanting.
Roethke describes the intimate picture of the woman that he loves and admires in many ways and in a reflective tone also describes her as “lovely in her bones”. He has compared her virtues with a goddess by using the phrase “of whom only God could speak”.
The dual meanings underlying the poem are the foundation and help to weave the rest of the poem very beautifully. A woman’s beauty is more than skin deep and is fundamental of what she is inside.
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She is a “bright container” that moves more than one way”. To the man looking on the outside, she may have faded; but to the man who loves her, her inner beauty shines so brightly that nothing can eclipse it. The dance of love between them is both literal and figurative.
“Turn, and Counter-turn, and Stand,” implies that the woman taught him things as a teacher, in relationship that he never thought he needed to learn. She showed him the beauty and the dance of touch between two lovers. She was “the sickle” and he “rake” portraying that she showed him the real meaning of love.
He “nibbled meekly from her proffered hand” is to compare himself with a shy bird and propose that he was gaining confidence to trust her. The poet then compares himself to a gander and his love to a goose. The fact that she is casting a spell on him is evident from his lover keeping her song notes “quick” and “light and loose”. Her “flowing knees” describe the dazzling effect she had on him. He finds her a magical creature that moves in circles and shows the ways in which she is bewitching him constantly.
Towards the end of the poem, the poet speaks about the life cycle of the seed that turns into grass and finally into hay to compare his own love that has grown from a seed of desire into a relationship and then into the resonating love of this woman.
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Describing himself, “a martyr” is evident of the fact that he is a willful slave to the imprint of her motion. He is gladly held captive in her power of love that lives in his mind as he says “what’s freedom for” anyway. He is not only influenced by her physical beauty but her inner beauty is so eternal that even the shadow of the woman is white. This implies that she is so pure and innocent inside that even a moment of love with her seems like forever to him.