Poetry Response: "Evening Concert, Saint-Chapelle"

A couple things to mind while reading this poem. I was getting an image of a euphonic sounding orchestra. There is this emphasis made on the beautiful sound of the violins. For example, Updike says; "seemed to such with their passionate sweetness", "The music surged; the glow became a milk, a whisper to the eye, a glimmer ebbed until our beating hearts, our violins were cased in thin but solid sheets of lead." I would explain milk as being a pure mixture with a smooth flow when poured. Thus, the sound of the violin seems pure, smooth, and flowing. The sound is nice and pleasant to the ear. I remember when I was a viola player. I loved the sound of it and even the look of it. But with the schedule I had, I was not able to keep with playing it.

Oddly enough I thought of University High School athletics while I was reading this poem. Updike mentions "the blazing blue". Knowing that our "mascot" is the blazers and that one of our school colors is (navy) blue, I found a connection. This is rather corny, but I thought of like how we are the Blazers and that we (the girls basketball team) were blazing through the tournament last season.