Hello. You forgot to show the text to which this question refers. The text is:
"The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant." The moon was out now. It was low and full enough that its beam shone directly on Sheila there ahead of me in the canoe, washing her in a creamy, luminous glow. I could see the lithe, easy shape of her figure. I could see the way her hair curled down off her shoulders, the proud, alert tilt of her head, and all these things were as a tug on my heart. Not just Sheila, but the aura she carried about her of parties and casual touchings and grace. Behind me, I could feel the strain of the bass, steadier now, growing weaker, and this was another tug on my heart, not just the bass but the beat of the river and the slant of the stars and the smell of the night, until finally it seemed I would be torn apart between longings, split in half. Twenty yards ahead of us was the road, and once I pulled the canoe up on shore, the bass would be gone, irretrievably gone. If instead I stood up, grabbed the rod, and started pumping, I would have it—as tired as the bass was, there was no chance it could get away. I reached down for the rod, hesitated, looked up to where Sheila was stretching herself lazily toward the sky, her small breasts rising beneath the soft fabric of her dress, and the tug was too much for me, and quicker than it takes to write down, I pulled a penknife from my pocket and cut the line in half.
Answer:
The narrator is going through a painful situation, which causes him uncomfortable feelings. For this reason, he states that this situation "... seemed I would be torn apart between longings, split in half".
Explanation:
The poem shown above shows a narrator who, in love with Sheila, invites her out. He has an idealized vision of her, but he realizes that it does not match reality.
Sheila accepts the invitation and the narrator takes her fishing, which is an activity he loves, but Sheila is ashamed and sorry to have accepted the invitation. She does not want to stay on the boat and is somewhat embarrassed by the situation, this "embarrassment" causes the narrator to give up a large fish that he had caught, but the whole situation caused discomfort and became a painful experience for him. him, to the point that he felt like this situation "seemed I would be torn apart between longings, split in half".
