Student Question
What is a summary and analysis of "The Three Fates" by Rosemary Dobson?
Quick answer:
"The Three Fates" by Rosemary Dobson is a poem about a man who, after pleading with the Fates for eternal life, is forced to relive his life in reverse. The poem, structured in tercets, reflects the omnipresence of the Fates—Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis—from Greek mythology. His endless cycle of life becomes a curse, echoing Sisyphus's punishment, highlighting the futility and undesirability of defying natural order.
The poem "The Three Fates" tells the story of a man who must relive his life in reverse order after petitioning the three fates for everlasting life. In the poem, the "three sisters" are an allusion to the Moirai or three goddesses in Greek mythology who determine the fate of humans. The three are called Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis.
Dobson's poem is set in five stanzas, with each stanza containing three lines. Each stanza is therefore a tercet, which is appropriate as it emphasizes the all-pervasive omnipresence of the mythical three fates (sisters) in human existence. There's no particular rhyme or meter, so we have free verse here.
In the poem, the three fates give a man his life back. Yet, the speaker ominously proclaims that it was "a mistake, an aberration, to cry out for Life everlasting." Indeed, the previously drowning man must now re-live his life over and...
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over again, in reverse order. Everlasting life in this fashion becomes a cruel joke, agony, and a curse. The man must experience every negative emotion before the events that precipitate it occur. He must brush away tears that have yet to fall.
The man is given the chance of being with his beloved again. But even this joy is short-lived. Instead of growing older, his beloved's life regresses until she becomes non-existent. The house they live in and the swing on which she sits eventually disappear as well. Then, there's a moment's pause before the entire experience begins all over again.
The man's fate recalls that of Sisyphus, who's sentenced to rolling a boulder up a hill over and over again in the underworld after cheating death twice. In both cases, the message is that it's impossible (and even undesirable) for humans to interfere with the natural order of things. In the poem, we learn that the man comes up like a "cork" from the waters (there's the use of simile) and his life repeats in reverse order like a "reel unrolling towards the river." Dobson uses the metaphor of reverse on-screen motion (prevalent in modern film-making) to highlight the man's miserable new "life."