Explication of a great Symbolist poem

To the Officers of the White Guard

By Francis Poulenc

Officers of the White Guard,
Protect me from certain thoughts by night,
Protect me from bodily combat and the resting
Of a hand on my hips.
Protect me especially from him
Who draws me away by the sleeves
Towards the challenge of full hands,
And the shifting places of shining water.
Spare me the stormy torments
Of loving him one day more deeply than today,
And the clamminess of expectation
That will imprint on window panes and doors
My profile of a lady long dead.
Officers of the White Guard,
I don't want to weep for him
On earth, I want to weep as the rain
On his earth, on his star adorned with boxwood
When later I will float, transparent,
Above the hundred stages of boredom.
Officers of pure conscience,
You who make faces beautiful,
Trust in space, by the flight of birds,
A message for those who seek out standards,
And forge for us seamless chains.

“To the Officers of the White Guard” begins with a direct command from the speaker, or rather, a plea, for the officers of the white guard to protect her from falling in love. The White Guard consisted of the White Army Officers during the Finnish Civil War. Even though Francis Poulenc was a French author, she could be speaking as one of the Finnish women.

The second line, “Protect me from certain thoughts by night,” may be referring to the speaker’s longing for companionship and the comfort of a lover. She switches to the thought of bodily combat, suggesting that a war is occurring. It shows that even while there is war, there is still love. She is in pain, because she does not even want someone to “Rest a hand on her hips.” She wants to avoid all the tumult that love brings.

The “him” she is referring to may be a lover that she does have, or a future one. She wants to stay away from him, because it would make her weak. The challenge that awaits in full hands may refer to the challenges that come with love. She does not want to have to possibly love this man more each day than she already does. The speaker cannot bear to sweat against the door waiting for him to come home. When she says “his earth” she may be saying the lover’s, probably not God’s (Otherwise this would be capitalized). This suggests that if she falls in love with him, then everything will be his. She does not want to lose herself because she is madly in love with another human being. The man she is talking about is most likely an officer, because she tells the White Guard to “trust in space” and to forge seamless chains. The chains may be those that confine women. Love is often referred to as a “chain” so the chain may be what binds her. She does not want love.