Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Line 9
As he defeated – dying –
- When we last left our speaker, she was explaining that this purple group of victors could not define "victory" as clearly as… as… and here after some more enjambment we have our answer: "he."
- Before we say more about this mysterious "he" fellow, we'll just point out that we're simply guessing that our speaker is a "she," since we have no other info to go on at this point. For more on that, check out our "Speaker" section.
- For now, let's get back to Mr. Dictionary, with his super-ability to define words like "victory."
- As it turns out, "he" is both "defeated" and "dying"—bad times indeed. We guess it doesn't really pay to be Mr. Dictionary, after all.
Lines 10-12
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
- Some more enjambment leads us to additional info on this defeated and dying dude.
- He's got a "forbidden" ear. So maybe… he stole it or something? But who would forbid someone from having an ear?
- Nobody in her right mind, that's who. This is another example of that funky syntax we saw line 8. In this case, "forbidden" doesn't mean that the ear itself is forbidden. Instead, it's forbidden from hearing something.
- Line 11 tells us what that something is: the "strains of triumph." "Strains" just mean the faint notes of a song.
- In other words, this ear—which belongs to a loser of the battle—is forbidden from hearing the victory song in all its full glory.
- Instead of being cranked up to eleven on the volume dial, this is turned down to a one for this poor guy.
- That might explain why line 12 describes these strains as "agonized." The dying soldier can barely make them out, but of course he's forbidden to hear them since, you know, he's one of the losers.
- Still, he can make out these notes playing for the victors, that "purple Host," even as he's dying. That much is "clear" to him, which probably only ups the agony factor.
- Imagine it this way: you've just lost the state championship game and you're walking off the field-pitch-court-track. Over your shoulder, you can hear Queen starting up to celebrate the champions. Wish that song was for you? Well… tough tinnitus—winning songs are for winners only, and you are not in the club.
- To sum up, then, this defeated soldier is tortured by the sounds of the victory parade—even as he lies dying on the battlefield.
- And yet, he still has one thing going for him: he knows victory inside and out.
Our speaker's message, once again, is that paradoxical notion that you have to be totally denied something before you can truly appreciate what it is. - As readers, we can also appreciate how this stanza sticks to its rhythm and a rhyme scheme.
- In the end, though, we're conflicted: does being able to fully appreciate something make up for the fact that you're never going to attain that thing?
- You make the call, Shmoopers.