“Take Hence The Bowl” (Neapolitan Air)

“Take hence the bowl; - tho’ beaming

Brightly as bowl e’er shone,

Oh, it but sets me dreaming

Of happy days now gone.

There, in its clear reflection,

As in a wizard’s glass,

Lost hopes and dead affection,

Like shades, before me pass.

Each cup I drain brings hither

Some scene of bliss gone by;-

Bright lips too bright to wither,

Warm hearts too warm to die.

Till, as the dream comes o’er me

Of those long vanished years,

Alas, the wine before me

Seems turning all to tears!”

The meaning of wine here appears different from the two poems before. It shows us that wine can be not only the symbol of enjoyment, healing the soul, but also the symbol of sadness, even suffering, I think. It can’t be harder than thinking about the time passed, “happy days now gone”. Being young, people try everything this life can bring. They live happy life, spend time visiting different places, having parties (or balls), drinking wine, and eating different kinds of food. Yes, youth can afford it. But when the time for being old comes, all this stuff doesn’t bring that joy any more. The only thing old people have is reminisce.

In this particular poem this reminisce appears to us in kind of sad form. And this line “the wine before me seems turning all to tears!” shows us the tears of nostalgia for old good days.

So, having analyzed some pieces of literature, we can see that the meaning of food and drink was really important and it played a great role in showing us the point of these pieces of literature.