Bibsy Soenharjo

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Bibsy Soenharjo
He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those were quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

If only shed been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
Shed be free from the hows and whys

Now heres a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really means nice
Then youll never be losing at dice
Though you may lose your heart at one or twice
An Indonesian poet, well-versed
in Indonesian, English, French and
Dutch
Her poems are characterized by
rhymes , wit, verbal puns and
alliteration

Her imagination draws the
readers into the world of fantasy
and surprises

Her sense of humor is engaging.

THE POET
Bibsy Soenharjo

The poem deals with
the issue of deception
in society, especially
in matters of the
heart.


It is about a woman
who has been
deceived by man
with quiet eyes.


The woman was
blinded by the mans
quiet eyes who
actually wants to
have pleasure with
her only.


Readers are advised
not be deceived
easily by outward
appearances

A place where a
man can charm
and seduce a lady
Language: free verse;
flows gently and freely
as the poet narrates.
Ryhmes
Personificaton
Metaphor
THE CONCEPT MAP OF THE POEM
Sadness and regrets
due to unwise
actions.
Didactic: when the
persona gives advice
in stanza 3.

Do not be fooled by
outward appearances or
sweet talk
Listen to advice
Learn from
mistakes
Appearances
can be deceptive


Deception
The love trap

Wisdom
The Third
Person (Stanza
1&2)
The Poet
(Stanza 3)
He Had
Such
Quiet
Eyes
SETTING
PERSONA
THEMES
MESSAGES
MORAL VALUES
TONE AND
MOOD
OVERVIEW
LANGUAGE AND
STYLE
He Had Such Quiet Eyes
STANZA 1
He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those were quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

STANZA 2
If only shed been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
Shed be free from the hows and whys


STANZA 3

Now heres a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really means nice
Then youll never be losing at dice
Though you may lose your heart at one or
twice
PLACE
No specific physical setting.
It can be a quiet place in town or
city, where a man charms a lady
into believing him and to fall in love
with him.


TIME
Probably a quiet evening.
Set in the present.


SOCIAL SETTING
Middle-class, young working
people.


Two Personas:
a) Stanza 1 & 2 :
the persona is the third person ( the one who observes the folly of
the young woman being seduced)
b)Stanza 3
the persona is the poet.
DECEPTION
From this poem, a young
woman is lured by the insincere
charm and romantic pretences of
a man.
The young woman is deceived by
a man who deliberately sets out to
woo her to satisfy his own bad
intentions and not because of love.
THE LOVE TRAP
This is a twin theme which snares
the unwary and the innocent.
Taken in by the charms of the
opposite sex, many people fall in
love, only to be duped.
WISDOM
This theme is portrayed in the
poem.
One can learn from ones mistake
and learn to discern right from
wrong.

It is the beginning of maturity.

It is also wise to listen to good
advice to prevent us from making
too many mistakes in life.
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
We must be able to learn from our mistakes.
We should not give up and lose our heart if we make a
mistake as it gives us the opportunity to be more
experienced.
DO NOT BE FOOLED BY APPEARANCE OR SWEET TALK
We must be careful about whom we trust and how much we can
trust them.
We must be alert with someones outward appearances,
personality or disposition as they can be very deceiving.

We cannot simply believe a person at face value, as this means
that we are gullible and thus easily deceived.
LISTEN TO ADVICE
A wise person will always listen to advice given.
Seeking counsel and advice helps a person to make
the best decision or choice.

A good advice will save from doing unwise actions
and time.

Appreciate that people have good intentions when
they give advice.
SADNESS AND REGRET
*This is based on Stanza 2.
*The persona sounds sad and
regret due to the unwise taken
by the woman.
*The woman in the poem also
sounds sad and regretful of what
had happened to her.
DIDACTIC
*This is based on Stanza 3.
*The persona sets a didactic
tone when she gives advice to
the woman and to the readers
*The tone is also gentle
throughout the poem.
Language
Free verse and speaks in a
conversational style.
The lines flow gently and
freely as the poet narrates
the poem.
Personification
The mans eyes become alive as
they were breathing desolate
sighs , like a human being.
The sad and pleading look the
man gave the victim tugs at her
heart and she gives in to him.
Metaphor 1
The poet describes the mans eyes as
two pools of lies. We can almost
visualize the mans eyes as two inviting
clear pools of water, charming the
young woman into believing everything
that he says.



Metaphor 2
layered with thinnest ice indicates that
the man hid his true intentions well that the
woman was totally deceived. In real life,
when the ice breaks , it may cause a lot of
damage to the victim.


Metaphor 3
losing at dice refers to the gambles a
person takes when making a decisions.
The poet compares making wrong or
harmful choices in life to throwing the
dice in a board game.
Rhyme
The last word in every line of the poem
ends with the pronunciation a I z or a I s,
for example, lines 1-2 ( eyes/realize); and
lines 14-15 ( advice/nice)
Alliteration
The sound s is repeated throughout the
poem.
This could imply that the man in the poem
is like hissing snake: dangerous, sneaky and
cunning.
The End