He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo Poem

He had such quiet eyes She did not realise They were two pools of lies Layered with thinnest ice To her, those quiet eyes Were breathing desolate1 sighs Imploring her to be nice !nd to render" him paradise If only she#d been wise !nd had listened to the ad$ice %e$er to compromise4 With pleasure&see'ing( guys She#d be free from )the hows and whys* %ow here#s a bit of ad$ice +e sure that nice really means nice Then you#ll ne$er losing at dice Though you may lose your heart once or twice 1,-.

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Meaning of the words

1 2

Unhappy; uninhabited Make an earnest; formal request 3 Present; show 4 Settlement reached by makin concessions on each side ! "ookin for a feelin of happy satisfaction

/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo About the Poet

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+ibsy Soenhar2o was born in 3a'arta on %o$ember 1, ., to Ha2i !gus Salim and 4ainatun %ahar nee !lmatsier5 Her father was one of the founding fathers of the 6epublic of Indonesia5 +ibsy was e7posed to poets li'e 8dgar !llan 9oe, :atthew !rnold and William +utler ;east at a young age5 She was fond of literature and after returning home from a four&year stay in 3apan, she began writing her first prose in 1,(<, and then poetry in the si7ties5 The Literature Review, an international quarterly published by =airleigh >ic'inson ?ni$ersity in %ew 3ersey, ?S!, published her first four literature pieces in their !utumn and Spring 8ditions in 1,-< and 1,-. respecti$ely5 Her poems ha$e appeared in bilingual anthologies, with her Indonesian wor's translated into 8nglish, >utch, and 3apanese and her 8nglish poems into Indonesian and >utch5 She continued to write proses pieces in Indonesian that appeared in 3a'arta dailies under the pen name %usapati5 In 1,,., her sons and friends published a boo' on some of her poems to celebrate her <@th birthday5

Synopsis
The poem is seen through the eyes of the poet who describes a situation whereby the persona, probably a young lady, who is capti$ated by the quiet eyes of a young man5 The lady belie$es she sees in those eyes mirroring the sadness within him and begging her for lo$e and 'indness so as to gi$e him happiness5 The second stanAa re$eals that the lady was not wise enough to listen to the ad$ice of ne$er to be on good terms of those who only see' fun and pleasure5 !s a result, she gets entangled in a difficult situation where numerous questions cannot be answered5 The poet ends up in the third stanAa with a bit further ad$iceB that is, one should be e7tra certain that a nice&loo'ing person is
/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo

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also one who possesses a decent character5 This is to ensure that one does not lose at the game of chance i5e5 the game of lifeB though losing out one#s heart Clo$eD once or twice is understandable5

Analysis of the Poem

i) Background
The poem is about a persona, a lady who fell for the wrong man5 She was fascinated with his Equiet eyes# and belie$ed that his eyes showed his true emotion and feelings for her5 The man#s eyes had the power to charm her and made her belie$e him and be nice to him5 Howe$er, the man was actually a Epleasure see'ing man#, a flirt5 !s the lady was truly fascinated and charmed by the man, she did not listen or did not want to listen to any ad$ice concerning the man#s true beha$iour5 In the end, she realiAed her error and was bro'en hearted5

ii) Description of Stanza Stanza 1

He had such quiet eyes She did not realise They were two pools of lies Layered with thinnest ice To her, those quiet eyes Were breathing desolate sighs Imploring her to be nice !nd to render him paradise

He had such calm and innocent eyes that she did not realise those eyes were eyes of deceit co$ered in a thin $eil that is easy to see through or fathom5 To her, those eyes were pouring out sighs of sadness begging her to be 'ind and lo$ing and in being so grant him a state of happiness5

Stanza 2
If only she#d been wise !nd had listened to the ad$ice

/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo
%e$er to compromise With pleasure&see'ing guys She#d be free from )the hows and whys*

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6egrettably she had not been wise enough to listen to the ad$ice of ne$er to be on terms with those who only loo' for pleasure5 If only she had, she would ha$e been sa$ed from being trapped in an unpleasant situation that is difficult to come out of5

Stanza 3
%ow here#s a bit of ad$ice +e sure that nice really means nice Then you#ll ne$er be losing at dice Though you may lose your heart once or twice

She proceeded in gi$ing some ad$ice5 +e sure to mean what we say5 Then we will ne$er lose at the cheating game though we may once or twice suffer from a bro'en heart5 Fne may fall in lo$e more than once before one disco$ers true lo$e5

Setting
%o particular place or time is mentioned but the poem relates a situation that can happen to anyone passing through the adolescent stage of life when physical impressions and attraction are at their highest5 The eyes can re$eal many things about a person#s inner feeling and emotions5 They are the window to a person#s soul5 The adolescent#s perception of such feelings is heightened at this stage5

Persona
The third person point of poem is used when the poem uses the pronouns Ehe# and Eshe#5 The persona CsheD is quite fascinated by those calm, innocent eyes that seem to be begging to her to

/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo

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be lo$ing and 'ind so as to grant him as state of bliss5 +ut in those eyes, there is deceit5

Tone and

ood

The tone is one of gi$ing ad$ice5 Here we can feel the poet gi$ing ad$ice to someone who may be near and dear to her5 The ad$ice is ne$er to come to terms with pleasure&see'ing guys5 In the poem the person is not wise enough to follow the ad$ice and is now entangled in a difficult situation5 She then adds another ad$iceB if you do not want to lose at a game a chance, be certain of what you mean by nice5

Structure! Style and "anguage

The poem is written in three stanAas5 The first stanAa has eight lines, the second stanAa has fi$e lines and the third stanAa has four lines5 The rhyming is not particularly effecti$e as in Elies# rhyming with Eice#, or Eeyes# rhyming with Esighs# in stanAa one while in the third stanAa, all the word end in E&ice#

"iterary De#ices
i) ii) $magery Symbolisms
87ample1 Epools of lies#, Elayered in thinnest ice# The poet uses a number of symbolisms to enhance the quality of her wor'5 Some of these are1 Equiet eyes#, Edice#
iiiD i$D

Alliteration Personification

87ample1 Elies layered# The eyes were Ebreathing the desolate sighs# as though he was tal'ing charmingly to her5
/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo Themes
iD iiD iiiD

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+etrayal of lo$e 9ersonal e7periences 6elationships that are meaningful

"esson "earnt
iD iiD iiiD

We must be careful when choosing friends =alling in lo$e is normal but one should be careful We must learn from the e7perience of other people

iD

oral %alues
!$oid being deluded by loo's or appearance We sometimes encounter people who ha$e ill intentions towards us5 These are con men who prey on young women5 They loo' nice and decent but ha$e bad moti$es5 So we should ta'e precaution against them5 We should not 2udge a boo' by its co$er Listen to beneficial ad$ice We are gi$en good ad$ice when others feel that we need it5 We should listen to their ad$ice5 The ad$ice is for our own good5 It pre$ents us from getting hurt or getting into trouble5

iiD

/0opyright1 Raff Sayn, Lee Teng, Xin Pei, Shu Ling, Nicole, Yvonne, Chu Pauh, Ruvithira