Chasing a Faun's shadow and song
In the Forest
"Flashes my Faun!"
Poem
Out of the mid-wood’s twilightInto the meadow’s dawn,Ivory limbed and brown-eyed,Flashes my Faun!
He skips through the copses singing,And his shadow dances along,And I know not which I should follow,Shadow or song!
O Hunter, snare me his shadow!O Nightingale, catch me his strain!Else moonstruck with music and madnessI track him in vain!
In brief
SummaryThe speaker glimpses 'my Faun', ivory-limbed and brown-eyed, flashing out of the twilight of the wood into the dawn of a meadow. The Faun skips singing through the copses with his shadow dancing beside him, and the speaker cannot decide which to follow, the shadow or the song. He calls on a Hunter to snare the shadow and a Nightingale to catch the tune, for otherwise, 'moonstruck with music and madness', he will track the Faun in vain.
Key themes
"Flashes my Faun!"
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The first stanza is a sudden sighting. 'Out of the mid-wood's twilight / Into the meadow's dawn', 'Ivory limbed and brown-eyed', 'Flashes my Faun!' The movement from the dark heart of the wood into dawn light, and the closing exclamation, give the moment its excitement. The word 'my' shows that the speaker already feels the Faun belongs to him.
In the second stanza the Faun 'skips through the copses singing, / And his shadow dances along'. The speaker is caught between the two: 'I know not which I should follow, / Shadow or song!' Each is part of the Faun, and neither is the Faun himself.
The third stanza is a double plea. He asks, 'O Hunter, snare me his shadow! / O Nightingale, catch me his strain!' Without their help, he says, 'moonstruck with music and madness / I track him in vain!' The poem ends with the chase unfinished and the Faun still out of reach.
Characters
The speaker
The bewitched pursuer
He sees the Faun burst from the wood and claims him as 'my Faun'. Unable to decide whether to follow the shadow or the song, he begs a Hunter and a Nightingale for help, and admits that, 'moonstruck with music and madness', he tracks the Faun in vain.
The Faun
Woodland spirit in flight
An 'Ivory limbed and brown-eyed' figure who flashes from the dark wood into the dawn meadow and skips singing through the copses, his shadow dancing beside him. He never pauses or speaks, and stays out of the speaker's reach.
Themes
Desire that cannot be caught
The Faun is always in motion: he 'Flashes', 'skips' and sings, while his shadow 'dances along'. The speaker cannot hold him, and cannot even choose what to pursue, 'Shadow or song'. His appeals to the Hunter and the Nightingale admit that he cannot catch the Faun alone, and the last words, 'I track him in vain!', make the pursuit endless.
Enchantment and madness
The Faun belongs to the old pagan woods, and he unsettles the speaker's reason. The claim 'my Faun' suggests ownership, yet it is the speaker who is possessed, 'moonstruck with music and madness'. Beauty here is a spell as much as a delight: it draws the watcher out of the 'mid-wood's twilight' and out of his senses.
Quotes
"Flashes my Faun!"
The poem
"Shadow or song!"
The poem
"Else moonstruck with music and madness"
The poem
Context
In the Forest is a brief lyric of three four-line stanzas, each ending on a short, exclaimed line that falls like the close of a song: 'Flashes my Faun!', 'Shadow or song!', 'I track him in vain!'. Its lilting rhythm, with lines of uneven length, suits the skipping movement of the figure it describes. Its world is that of classical myth, peopled by a Faun and addressed to a Hunter and a Nightingale.
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