Skip to main contentResource added ![The Three Fates, a poem by Rosemary Dobson. At the instant of drowning he invoked the three sisters. It was a mistake, an aberration, to cry out for Life everlasting. He came up like a cork and back to the river-bank, Put on his clothes in reverse order, Returned to the house. He suffered the enormous agonies of passion Writing poems from the end backwards, Brushing away tears that had not yet fallen. Loving her wildly as the day regressed towards morning He watched her swinging in the garden, growing younger, Bare-foot, straw-hatted. And when she was gone and the house and the swing and daylight There was an instant’s pause before it began all over, The reel unrolling towards the river.](https://uw.manifoldapp.org/system/resource/2/f/b/2fb67dd3-4415-43e0-aac9-92452e173025/attachment/medium-bc0354949f64f645301e39f827c11f16.jpg)
The Three Fates
![The Three Fates, a poem by Rosemary Dobson. At the instant of drowning he invoked the three sisters. It was a mistake, an aberration, to cry out for Life everlasting. He came up like a cork and back to the river-bank, Put on his clothes in reverse order, Returned to the house. He suffered the enormous agonies of passion Writing poems from the end backwards, Brushing away tears that had not yet fallen. Loving her wildly as the day regressed towards morning He watched her swinging in the garden, growing younger, Bare-foot, straw-hatted. And when she was gone and the house and the swing and daylight There was an instant’s pause before it began all over, The reel unrolling towards the river.](https://uw.manifoldapp.org/system/resource/2/f/b/2fb67dd3-4415-43e0-aac9-92452e173025/attachment/medium-bc0354949f64f645301e39f827c11f16.jpg)
A photograph of the poem The Three Fates from "The Three Fates & Other Poems" by Rosemary Dobson.
Full description
The poem The Three Fates by Rosemary Dobson is the central piece in her poetry collection called “The Three Fates & Other Poems” published in 1984.
The poem describes a drowning man who calls upon the three Fates to give him eternal life, but instead of granting him life into the future, he relives his life in the past, repeating his miseries, unable to change anything. It documents his experiences of the effects of his life decisions before the decisions themselves, reinforcing that his path is not something he can escape.
Download image “The Three Fates”
- typeImage
- created on
- file formatjpg
- file size211 KB
- container titleThe Three Fates & Other Poems
- copyright statusActive
- creatorRosemary Dobson (1920-2012)
- creditRosemary Dobson 1984
- isbn0 86806 132 8
- original titleThe Three Fates & Other Poems
- publisherHale & Iremonger Pty Limited
- publisher placeSydney, NSW
- restrictionsNo part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher.
- rightsAny fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism, review, or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act.
- rights holderHale & Iremonger Pty Limited
- rights territoryAustralia
- versionFirst Edition
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