I have to confess that I was surprised at how abruptly the poem finished. But I agree with your point about the questionable consolation of empty platitudes - in a way it's much more powerful to end at a point of simple compassion.
I wondered whether there was any play on words with 'herte' meaning both 'hart/stag' and 'heart' (in the version I initially read online, both used the same spelling whereas in the Norton Chaucer, it's hert and herte). At the end of the poem the 'hert-hunting' is done and the king returns to his castle... Is there an analogue with the MIB allowing his heart free rein? Or perhaps the 'herte' being pursued through the poem by pain and sorrow... Or am I drawing too long a bow?!
I don't think that's taking it too far at all. The heart/hart pun is a mainstay in English poetry from the Middle Ages on, taking the lead of the hunting metaphors in Petrarch's sonnets. And spelling is always variable in Chaucer editions, depending on the base manuscript being used and editorial practices.
I have to confess that I was surprised at how abruptly the poem finished. But I agree with your point about the questionable consolation of empty platitudes - in a way it's much more powerful to end at a point of simple compassion.
I wondered whether there was any play on words with 'herte' meaning both 'hart/stag' and 'heart' (in the version I initially read online, both used the same spelling whereas in the Norton Chaucer, it's hert and herte). At the end of the poem the 'hert-hunting' is done and the king returns to his castle... Is there an analogue with the MIB allowing his heart free rein? Or perhaps the 'herte' being pursued through the poem by pain and sorrow... Or am I drawing too long a bow?!
I don't think that's taking it too far at all. The heart/hart pun is a mainstay in English poetry from the Middle Ages on, taking the lead of the hunting metaphors in Petrarch's sonnets. And spelling is always variable in Chaucer editions, depending on the base manuscript being used and editorial practices.