The Poetry of Gordon

     When I was in high school (I won’t say how long ago) I disliked the poetry units in literature class.  They were boring and pointless.  I didn’t understand the emotions a well-crafted poem could evoke.  There is something esoteric about a poem: a good poem conveys its idea subtly, yet the understanding thereof brings stark clarity.

                Perhaps my lack of appreciation for poetry caused me to overlook the lyrics of “Wrapped Around Your Finger” by The Police.  Everybody knows the chorus “I’ll be wrapped around your finger”, and then it switches at the end to “You’ll be wrapped around my finger.”  I picked up a few words here and there about “things they would not teach me of in college” and “staring at the ring around your finger” and “You’ll find your servant is your master.”  I thought it was a song about a guy who was so in love with a woman.  They were married, based on the “ring around your finger” and “band of gold” lines, and therefore he was wrapped around her finger as signified by the rings.  In likewise, his being her master, that is, he being her husband, she will be wrapped around his fingers.  Sweet story, right?  Not so much.

                The reality of the song is completely different from what I had imagined.  Instead of being a Hallmark Movie romance, it’s more like a Dangerous Liaisons subterfuge.  She imagines she is the teacher, he the student, but then he turns the tables.  But the poetry, wow.  You can definitely tell Sting taught Literature. 

You consider me the young apprentice

Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis

Hypnotized by you if I should linger

  Staring at the ring around your finger

I have only come here seeking knowledge

Things they would not teach me of in college

I can see the destiny you sold

Turned into a shining band of gold

I’ll be wrapped around your finger

I’ll be wrapped around your finger

 

Mephistopheles is not your name

I know what you’re up to just the same

I will listen hard to your tuition

You will see it come to its fruition

I’ll be wrapped around your finger

I’ll be wrapped around your finger

 

Devil and the deep blue sea behind me

Vanish in the air you’ll never find me

I will turn your face to alabaster

When you’ll find your servant is your master

You’ll be wrapped around my finger

You’ll be wrapped around my finger

You’ll be wrapped around my finger

You’ll be wrapped around my finger

                He sets up the scene at the beginning: he is the young apprentice—the one who learns from the master—caught in a tough spot.  Scylla and Charybdis were sea monsters in a narrow channel named in Homer’s Odyssey.  Scylla was a six-headed monster who ate sailors, and Charybdis was a monster/goddess who caused a whirlpool.  To sail too near the one could cause destruction by the other.  Being caught between Scylla and Charybdis is to be caught between a rock and a hard place.  The young apprentice is in danger of being caught (hypnotized) in this tough situation if he does nothing.  He acknowledges he is there to learn and is destined to be controlled by her. 

                The song takes a more sinister turn when he says, “Mephistopheles is not your name; I know what you’re up to just the same.”  Mephistopheles was the demon in the Goethe story of Dr. Faust, in which Dr. Faust is so bored he ends up selling his soul to Mephistopheles—essentially selling his soul to the devil.  In other words, she may not be the devil, but she is up to something, and he knows it.  Still he allows her to wrap him around her finger.

                Then comes the plot twist. . .

                Just as “caught between Scylla and Charybdis” is an idiom like “caught between a rock and a hard place;” so is “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.”  They all mean basically the same thing—stuck in a situation where there are two choices, neither good.

                Here’s the twist: the devil and the deep blue sea are behind him.  He’s come out unscathed the other side but disappears on her.  (Ghosting before ghosting was a thing?)  Only when he’s gone will she realize that she’s been had.  I love the line “I will turn your face to alabaster,” meaning she will become pale when she understands what he has done.  What she thought was her servant/apprentice has mastered her.  Beat at her own game!

                There is so much packed in this song that it is easy to miss its sheer cleverness with its idioms and literary references.  It is a great example of what a good poem should be.  Bravo: you’ve got me wrapped around your metaphorical finger.