Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister Hate Quotes

Here we are, first line of the poem, and the speaker is already so disgusted that he can hardly form words – he actually growls to open the poem! He calls the as-yet-unnamed Brother Lawrence his "heart's abhorrence," reversing the usual poetic trope of addressing the speaker's beloved as his "heart's love" or "heart's joy."

The speaker admits that his hatred is intense enough to kill... if hate actually worked that way. Isn't it kind of bad to hate a fellow monk that much? Wouldn't that count as a sin?

The speaker intersperses delightful little oaths and swears like this with his fake-polite remarks about Brother Lawrence's gardening. Grumbling and swearing under your breath when you're angry at someone? Yeah, that seems pretty realistic.

The speaker has to sit with Brother Lawrence at every meal, and he hates every word that comes out of his fellow monk's mouth. "Salve tibi" is Latin for "hail to thee" or "how's it going," but the speaker uses italics to show his mockery for the overly formal speech of Brother Lawrence.

The italics in the first line seem to indicate the speaker's contempt for what Brother Lawrence has to say. He adds (under his breath, perhaps?) his own question: asking for the Greek word for "Swine's Snout," or dandelion. Is he calling Brother Lawrence a weed, like a dandelion, or is he just using a pun on the common name for dandelion to call Brother Lawrence a "Swine's Snout"?

This might not sound like the most hateful passage of the poem at first – isn't the speaker just being grateful that Brother Lawrence is sharing his melons? Hardly. The "…so nice!" is just dripping with sarcasm.