"The Old Woman"

'The Old Woman' by Joseph Campbell:-

The present poem is a very fine & quite unique comparison of the old woman with some objects written by Campbell.
Generally we can see that how Beauty of young lady or girl can expresses through particular things but here the poet comes with some different idea as he tries to compare the old woman with some objects surrounding us & presents quite unique image here.
Very firstly the poet compares the old woman with a white candle. As white candle we generally use in the holy place that gives light & guided the person who comes there. Likewise old woman also has that much lightning face that had beauty as well as shines that can guided others which shows her thresher of experiences that are enough to direct the exact path to others.
With the radiance of the winter sun then the poet tries to compare the old woman & for that he used the word 'Spent Radiance' that indicates the passing time,the travelling of the sun.it directly shows the long passed journey of the old woman having radiance like the sun.
At last he naturally compared the old woman's maturity & steadiness with the still water of ruined mill.that shows her age that has thoughts, behavior & speech to fill anyone's life with betterment to move further in life.
By this way,i would say that how the old woman is compares by such objects & shows deliberately the glory of aged woman having immense sources of life requirements.