Talking in Bed

The title of the poem, “Talking in Bed,” is ironic, introducing the reader to a forebodingly quiet situation in a place where one might expect conversation to flow freely. The pun on the word “Lying,” in Line 2, foreshadows the theme of dishonesty in communication. A pun is a play on a word that has two very different meanings. In addition to a supine bodily position, “lying” is a form of untruthful communication, which for some is a long-standing condition of their relationship. The pun only becomes obvious in the context of the whole poem; if “lying” is simply means lying down, the first tercet would seem to present a perfect picture or “emblem” (Line 3) of a situation in which two people, free of the pressures of the world, can relax and say what is on their minds without fear of being rejected or misunderstood.

The first word of the second tercet, “Yet,” (Line 4) is the first explicit indication to the reader that the reality of the scene is different to what the reader may expect as the couple in the poem talk less and less as they spend more time together. The speaker introduces a sense of separation or distance in Line 5, when the setting of the poem moves out beyond the bedroom to the wider outside world. It is windy, and the wind’s “incomplete unrest” (Line 5) seems to mirror the sense of unease and discomfort that the increasingly wordless couple are experiencing. The unusual phrase “incomplete unrest” (Line 5) presents a sharp contrast to the notion of rest and relaxation a bed suggests. The word “incomplete” is often linked to sentences, which may be one form of communication that eludes couples as their relationships lengthen.

Emphasizing the theme of an uncaring environment, no image in the poem is at rest. The wind continues to move the clouds through the sky in Lines 5-6, and the “dark towns” (Line 7) on the horizon “heap up” (Line 7). These towns are unknown, distant in both physical space and familiarity, and they are not recognizable as places where other couples might nestle up to one another for warmth and comfort.

After this three-line sketch of a dark, windy, and cheerless night in the second stanza, the monosyllabic six-word sentence that appears at the beginning of Line 8 is blunt: “None of this cares for us.” Both nature, represented by the wind and clouds, and humanity, represented by the towns, are indifferent to the misery of silent couples in bed. The speaker of the poem perceives the horizon with its “dark towns” as infinite. No comfort, closeness, nor intimacy is available anywhere in this bleak environment.

Moreover, the speaker has no explanation for this sense of pervasive isolation: “Nothing shows why” (Line 8). The speaker provides no answers for the human condition, presenting only the difficult truth of many couples’ situations as they lie together in bed, at a “unique distance from isolation” (Line 9) yet unable to speak openly. In order not to hurt each other, they avoid speaking altogether because words that are both “true and kind” (Line 11) are not available to them. They struggle to come up with inoffensive platitudes that are somewhat truthful, choosing not to express any real, substantial, deeply felt emotions. The speaker presents the interpersonal challenge in a double-negative of “not untrue and not unkind” (Line 12). The placement of this double-negative in the final line of the poem lends the conclusion of the poem a pessimistic finality characteristic of the poet’s body of work.