the Gorgon Medusa, the speaker ponders on how nature and life will continue, as "the water will always fall, and will not fall" and "the grass will always be growing for hay" while "I shall stand here like a shadow" and "nothing will ever stir". While many interpretations of the poem exist, one possible explanation for the bleakness of this poem may revolve around Bogan's depression and solitude after divorcing from her first husband and living in poverty with a daughter in hand. The idea that one would become petrified and lost in time by Medusa is similar to a feeling of loss and despair as one feels helpless and stuck in a situation where one feels their situation is unchangeable. Brett C. Millier, a Professor of Literature at Middlebury College, describes Bogan's poetry as one where "Betrayal, particularly sexual betrayal, is a constant theme." At a time where she most likely felt betrayed by her husband and society, Bogan feels like the speaker in "Medusa", stuck in a dead scene where her eyes could no longer drift away to a better life. References External links Modern American Poetry: Louise Bogan (1897–1970) Biography at poets.org "The Dream – Poem by Louise Bogan" Louise Bogan Quotes Modernism in American Literature The Necessity of Form to the Poetry of Louise Bogan Louise Bogan in her Prose Louise Bogan Papers from the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections The Louise Bogan Papers at Washington University in St. Louis Modern American Poetry, critical essays on Bogan's works Academy of American Poets Louise Bogan and J.V. Cunningham reading and discussing their poems Poetry Archive-Louise Bogan 1897 births 1970 deaths Boston University alumni People from Livermore Falls, Maine Formalist poets American women poets Bollingen Prize recipients Poets from Maine 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers American Poets Laureate Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters