Commentary on "Casting Empty Nets"
Jan. 20th, 2004 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darcydodoCasting Empty Nets
Gone. Screaming emptiness, a hole ripped in her heart. The constant ache, so recently muted, exploded into a thousand blurred wings of sorrow, until she could stand it no longer. There was bright sun outside, but liquid night oozed into her heart, her mind. Starless, moonless, dreaming dead. So she tried to make her own dreams. Howled them from her mouth, until she floundered in the crystal river that drowned her as she tried to reach the kindly moon, who turned away his face. The fish are dead, the sun burned away their dew. There could be no more wishes.
---
The first thing to understand about this drabble is that it actually does make sense, so long as one looks at it in the right way. At least, I think it does. Yes, there is a lot of imagery, but it's all consistent with the background or the framework. The topic for the drabble was "wishes," which made me think of the adage "if wishes were fishes." This combination of wishes and fishes also led me to think about the old poem (and lullaby) of Winken, Blinken and Nod (it's by Eugene Field, but I always think of it as the version sung by Fred Penner):
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe---
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea---
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish---
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam---
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea---
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The drabble itself is set at the beginning of "Villains," as Willow realizes that Tara has been killed and attempts to bring her back by summoning Osiris, as she had when resurrecting Buffy.
So I think the first three sentences are fairly self-explanatory; "the constant ache, so recently muted" is Tara's absence, the two of them having only been reunited the night before. Tragically, "Seeing Red" is less than a day long. The following sentence is also very literal (as well as working more abstractly): there is a constant visual emphasis, at this point in the episode, on the brightness of the day outside where Buffy is lying close to death, while the room where Willow and Tara are is plunged into blackness as Willow begins her summoning. At this point the influence of the poem comes in; the dream which Winken, Blinken, and Nod are captured in, in which they fish for the stars, their wishes, is essentially shattered. In other words, wishing won't bring Tara back. So Willow "tried to make her own dreams," by summoning Osiris, forcing him to bring Tara back. "Howled them from her mouth" is again literal, referring to (besides her scream of despair) the blast of energy which shoots out of her mouth just before the episode cuts into the credits. But her efforts here are to no avail, and her hope of resurrecting Tara is taken away from her. The crystal river, the kindly moon, both these are again references to the poem, as are the remaining two sentences of the drabble. And "there could be no more wishes" also is referring to Willow's subsequent pursuit and flaying of Warren all on her own, without relying on anyone else. She intends to make her destiny and refuses the help of all others in this and the next two episodes. She takes, and she does not ask.
Gone. Screaming emptiness, a hole ripped in her heart. The constant ache, so recently muted, exploded into a thousand blurred wings of sorrow, until she could stand it no longer. There was bright sun outside, but liquid night oozed into her heart, her mind. Starless, moonless, dreaming dead. So she tried to make her own dreams. Howled them from her mouth, until she floundered in the crystal river that drowned her as she tried to reach the kindly moon, who turned away his face. The fish are dead, the sun burned away their dew. There could be no more wishes.
---
The first thing to understand about this drabble is that it actually does make sense, so long as one looks at it in the right way. At least, I think it does. Yes, there is a lot of imagery, but it's all consistent with the background or the framework. The topic for the drabble was "wishes," which made me think of the adage "if wishes were fishes." This combination of wishes and fishes also led me to think about the old poem (and lullaby) of Winken, Blinken and Nod (it's by Eugene Field, but I always think of it as the version sung by Fred Penner):
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe---
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea---
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish---
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam---
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea---
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The drabble itself is set at the beginning of "Villains," as Willow realizes that Tara has been killed and attempts to bring her back by summoning Osiris, as she had when resurrecting Buffy.
So I think the first three sentences are fairly self-explanatory; "the constant ache, so recently muted" is Tara's absence, the two of them having only been reunited the night before. Tragically, "Seeing Red" is less than a day long. The following sentence is also very literal (as well as working more abstractly): there is a constant visual emphasis, at this point in the episode, on the brightness of the day outside where Buffy is lying close to death, while the room where Willow and Tara are is plunged into blackness as Willow begins her summoning. At this point the influence of the poem comes in; the dream which Winken, Blinken, and Nod are captured in, in which they fish for the stars, their wishes, is essentially shattered. In other words, wishing won't bring Tara back. So Willow "tried to make her own dreams," by summoning Osiris, forcing him to bring Tara back. "Howled them from her mouth" is again literal, referring to (besides her scream of despair) the blast of energy which shoots out of her mouth just before the episode cuts into the credits. But her efforts here are to no avail, and her hope of resurrecting Tara is taken away from her. The crystal river, the kindly moon, both these are again references to the poem, as are the remaining two sentences of the drabble. And "there could be no more wishes" also is referring to Willow's subsequent pursuit and flaying of Warren all on her own, without relying on anyone else. She intends to make her destiny and refuses the help of all others in this and the next two episodes. She takes, and she does not ask.
