The Guitarist Tunes Up Women and Femininity Quotes

In a literal reading of these lines, the speaker is talking about our pal the guitar player and his beloved guitar. But since the poem ends up comparing the guitar to a woman, we have to consider these lines from a figurative perspective as well. From a figurative perspective, these two lines function as a very important qualifier that saves the guitar/woman comparison from taking an unfortunate turn. The guitar player (the man) is "bent over his instrument" (the woman) in a way not like a "conqueror." The speaker seems to be trying to make the relation between the guitar player and his instrument, well, respectful: not like a conqueror. Cornford might have felt this was necessary because without that qualifier all we have is a woman being compared to an object (the guitar) that is possessed and played by the musician (a man) and capable only of producing the sound or song the musician desires. Basically, the guitar/woman has no voice of her own. See? Without that qualifier, this comparison could start to seem pretty sexist pretty fast. Nice save, Frances.

Here's that simile that compares the guitar player, bending to tune his guitar, to a man bending to listen to a woman.That mid 20th century notion of femininity comes through again here. She is a woman, so she isn't saying important or interesting things. She's saying, "slight," unimportant, trivial things and the man is happy to feign interest in hopes that his attention might get him somewhere. In a figurative sense, these trivial things are only "essential" in that by paying careful attention to them, by hanging on her every word as if it were important and interesting, he might get to "play" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). What a dog, right? This mirrors the literal reading: it's just like the guitarist has to pay careful attention to the mundane, individual notes of the tuning process to get to play the song.

Well, it looks like that guy's strategy paid off. He listened to those "slight essential things she had to say" and, sure enough, they get together. Surprised? Probably not.