dress you

[GoodTaste]

Does "dress you" mean "clothe you (the speaker himself)"? It is odd because the speak describes himself as "cold and ashen and screwed in a box (meaning put in a coffin?).

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"You were viewing some lovely things. 'Soon required
For a widow, of latest fashion';
And I knew 'twould upset you to meet the man
Who had to be cold and ashen


"And screwed in a box before they could dress you
'In the last new note in mourning,'
As they defined it. So, not to distress you,
I left you to your adorning."

Source: At the Draper's
by Thomas Hardy

 

[emsr2d2]

I imagine the widow in question has some servants who would be responsible for dressing her. If she can afford the latest fashion in mourning wear ("the last new note in mourning"), she's probably rich enough to have servants.

Please check your spacing carefully. This is the second post in which you haven't left a space between "Draper's" and "by".

 

[GoodTaste]

What does "screwed in a box" mean there?

 

[GoesStation]

What does "screwed in a box" mean there?

Sealed into a coffin.

 

[GoodTaste]

The use of the word "before" is confusing to me.

The state before her servants put on her clothing would be: she's not dressed - and in the undressed state, meeting the "cold, ashen and dead man" would be distressing for her. Well, it is what I understand the lines, not knowing I am correct or not.

 

[GoesStation]

The use of the word "before" is confusing to me.

The line is just laying out the chronology: the man was sealed into his coffin early in the morning, before she was dressed.

 

[GoodTaste]

If so, Who is the speaker(“You were viewing...”)?
I guess that he was Imagining he’s already dead and in the box.

 

[GoesStation]

If so, Who is the speaker(“You were viewing...”)?
I guess that he was Imagining he’s already dead and in the box.

The speaker is her husband. She's buying a suit of mourning clothes which she'll wear if he dies. That "he coughed and coughed" suggests he was suffering from tuberculosis, known as consumption and very common at the time, and expected that she'd need the clothes soon.

Do you know why I marked three letters in the quote?

 

[GoodTaste]

So "lovely things" is an irony?

Do you know why I marked three letters in the quote?

I knew because it is what my smartphone typed out for me (it sillily capitalized them and not easy to correct on my phone).


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I am not sure why the author used "had to" there: Who had to be cold and ashen? Must be cold and ashen? Sounds odd to me.

What does "Who had to be cold and ashen" mean?

 

[GoesStation]

So "lovely things" is an irony?

Yes, I suppose. Calling even the most elegant widow's weeds "lovely" is an unexpected juxtaposition.

I am not sure why the author used "had to" there: Who had to be cold and ashen? Must be cold and ashen? Sounds odd to me.

What does "Who had to be cold and ashen" mean?

Well, Hardy needed two syllables to make the line scan (i.e., fit the poem's meter). It means "who would certainly be cold and pale".