"The Silken Tent"

“The Silken Tent”, one of the first poems we studied in class, is seemingly an unabashed declaration of love for a woman. At first, we get the sense of a strong and free woman whom the narrator worships. “She is as in a field a silken tent” for example and the tent which the woman represents “points heavenward.” A tent is a metaphor which both represents sturdiness and leniency, as it is a strong structure but is not rigid due to its soft material. It “gently sways at ease” yet it has a “supporting central cedar pole”, which may be taken to represent a backbone of sorts. Thus, a tent seems to be a perfect metaphor for a commendable woman whom the narrator worships.
Yet, there is an underlying sense in the poem that the woman is tied down, as represented by the constraints of the tent. The tent is “slightly taut”, for example, yet there is a sense that the woman yearns to be free. “She seems to owe naught to any single cord, but strictly held by none, is loosely bound” thus one can take from the poem that the woman is purported to be single or yearns to be. I believe that that underlying conflict in the poem is that the man who worships her would like a more committed relationship yet the woman only feels the need to be tied down to a certain extent. The source of the man’s worries is that he sees redeeming qualities in the woman yet by her very nature she cannot be to him what he wants her to. She is “capricious” and while he tries to get her to settle down, she is “of the slightest bondage made aware.”