The fact that this poem has remained with me since I first read it is either an indication of quality, or that it touched me on a personal level or, most likely, both.
There is so much I like about it, so very much, but most incisive I think is the concept of the "ghost in the machine" with its categorical mistake(s). That turns my thoughts to Koestler (whom I am better acquainted with than Ryle or Descartes, though it was many years ago that I read Koestler's books so I had best not be too big-mouthed here).
The concluding line tells me (though it may not be the author's intent) that N has learned from a stranger of the death of a former lover, and I further read into it that it was N who severed the relationship. It doesn't matter if this is true or not, it is the impression I take away from the poem.
For me the strongest part of the poem is the image of the door being quietly closed as the lover leaves the site of the rendezvous; it imparts a solemnity to the closure.
The opening expresses ennui, but the sestet has a diction that is full of feeling, of mourning; the traditional image of the haunted house (symbolizing the mind in Ns body) which uses winter fog (deliberate forgetfulness) rolling in from the coast around the old stone house (stoicism), locking N in introspection. The words "haunt", "silence", "gently" are esp. poignant.
The closure is two-edged and its ambiguity informs us that the statment is not true, that the "mind in the body" is not silent and the ghost in Ns machine will continue to mourn the former lover's "ghost" in the answering machine and in their shared past.
That is my take on it.
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Hybrid Mode
