The Roman Baths at Nimes

“The Roman Baths of Nimes” is written by Henri Cole as a way to express his desire to break free of conformity and social norms established by his environment. Furthermore, it can be regarded as a way to put an end to an internal battle by coming to terms with his true identity. A close reading of the poem helps expose the true message the poet attempts to convey to his reader.

“The Roman Baths at Nimes,” a sonnet, has a unique modified structure which resembeles the main purpose of the poem. Originally, a sonnet was structured as “one strong opening statement of eight lines, followed by a resolution to the emotional or intellectual question of the first part of the poem” (Strand 56). The contemporary sonnet comes in two forms, the Petrarchan and the Shakespearian. Both have fourteen lines but they differ in their rhyme scheme. Cole combines the elements from the original and Shakespearean sonnets to form a unique structure for his poem. He uses a modified rhyme scheme of aabcbcdedefghh, which very closely resembles the contemporary form of the Shakespearean sonnet (because of the final couplet rhyme hh) but not exactly. He incorporates the features of the antique sonnet by presenting his internal struggle in the first ten lines of the poem and in the final sentence, resolving the conflict.

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The author is faced with the struggle of coming to terms with his homosexuality, which parallels the “internal” struggle of the form of the poem. The opening sentence of the poem, “In the hall of mirrors nobody speaks,” (Cole 1) sets the gloomy tone through the author’s use of imagery to create before the reader a silent dark hallway with mirrors. The other attribute that describes the bath, “An ember smolders before hollowed cheeks,” (2) ...

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...ree of the conformities of the ancient world by introducing the idea that people should be comfortable with revealing their inner feelings and eradicate the fear of what others may think. This theme is reflected through the structure of his poem; his use of a modified form of the original sonnet and a non-standard rhyme scheme shows his desire to break free of the social norms and set his own new ones. In just fourteen lines, Henri Cole manages to unveil the hidden realities of what takes place in baths while disguising the truths within the rhyming lines of his poem.

Works Cited

Cole, Henri. "The Roman Baths at Nimes." The Making of a Poem: a Norton Anthology

of Poetic Forms. By Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. New York: Norton, 2001.

69. Print. Strand, Mark, and Eavan Boland. The Making of a Poem: a Norton Anthology of Poetic

Forms. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.