A maternal life entails that a mother is to wholefully provide the necessary emotional, physical, and spirtual support for the proper development of her children. The combination of support systems provided to a child by the mother can lead to a strenous life style resulting in either a negative pyschological or physiolological state on the part of the maternal care giver that, overtime, will enable the child bearer to develop a sense of ambivalence towards the notion of motherhood. In the case of Rita Dove’s poem Daystar and Gwen Harwood’s poem In the park, the ideals of motherhood are blurred producing a negative view of a maternity. In spite of the fact that both poem’s look at the theme of motherhood as a painstaking responsibility …show more content…
Thus, the poets conceptual ideals contribute to a incredibly different treatment of motherhood. More specifically, the orator in In the park views motherhood as a agent of the disperal of the her identity not only as a woman but also a poet. Evidently, Andrew Taylor confirms the poet’s loss of idenity when he states that the children in the poem In the park “…were the agents for the woman’s dispersal of identity , they were scattered constituents of her identiy as disperal, as non identiy” (148). In this case, the poet’s treatment of maternity is seen through her perspective in the of loss of her individual self. Moreover, Taylor also mentions that the poem In the park “…is a comparatively simply poem, and there is little temptation to equate the woman in the poem with the poet herself, despite the frequent references thoughout Harwood’s poetry to her children and the role of mother which delayed one can only assume, her emergence as a poet” ( 146). The identity that has been taken away, by the speaker’s offpsring’s, according to Taylor, was Harwood’s rise in the poetic world. As for the perspective of the poet, on motherhood, in the poem Daystar, there is a singifinalt dissimliarity. The orator , in Daystar views motherhood as over taking other womanly roles. The maternal roles that overtakes the life of a mother are evident when the poet states that “she wanted a little room for thinking” (line1 ). Simply put, according to Elizabeth Beaulieu, the orator, in In the park “articulates a strategy for coping with children……she recognizes the need for a place of her own” ( 146). The poet’s objections on motherhood are clear; maternal resposniblities are percevied as a trap which encapsulates a woman indefinately without the freedom to do what she as
The descriptions and words used create the most vivid images of a mother’s escape to freedom with her son. This poem takes you on both a physical and emotional journey as it unravels through the treacherous demands of freedom. A beautiful example of her ability to rhyme both internally as well as externally can be seen here,
Are all mothers fit for motherhood? The concept of motherhood is scrutinized in the stories “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “Tears Idle Tears”. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence the mother, Hester, unpremeditatedly provokes her son into providing for her through gambling. In the story “Tears Idle Tears” by Elizabeth Bowen, Mrs. Dickinson disregards her son’s emotions and puts more emphasis in her appearance than her son’s wellbeing. Hester and Mrs. Dickinson both were inadequate mothers. Both the mothers were materialistic, pretended to love their offspring, and their dominance hindered their children’s progress in life.
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
When intensive mothers are busy with thier responsibilities in the public sphere, due to their belief that a mother is the central caregiver, their temporary replacement must exclusively be female (Hays 414). Even with a female nanny who “leaves the place in a mess, makes a petty point of not putting the dishwasher on […], never gives the correct change from the supermarket and “loses” all the receipts” (Pearson 84), Kate still makes every effort to keep the nanny in her family. From the perspective of intensive mothers, men are not capable of providing the same quality of care that a woman is able to provide (Hays 414). From a gender essentialist perspective, Kate argues that “Emily and Ben need me, and it’s me that they want. […] Daddy is the ocean; Mummy is the port, the safe haven they nestle in to gain the courage to venture farther and farther out each time” (Pearson 169). Therefore, intensive mothers find “alternate mothers,” that is, credentialed female child-care providers (Hays 412) such as Paula, Kate’s nanny, as well as Jo, Alice’s nanny who are able to promote the intellectual enrichment of their
This darkly satirical poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother is synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of ‘She loves him’.
D.H Lawrence's “Bat” and Gwen Harwood’s “In the Park” are both satisfying poems and both explore the issues of light and dark. Lawrence’s “Bat” is about about a person who is terrified of bats and shows his clear disdain about them. Through his poem he makes us understand the connection between fear and prejudice and how a good moment can be brought down easily by them. Harwood's “In the Park” is about a despondent mother who no longer lives for herself and only for her children. It conveys the negative aspects of motherhood and family. Her poem makes us understand that motherhood can be life changing and dark.
Harwood wrote the poem with relatively simple composition techniques but it provides a rather big impact which helps to give an insight into the life of a mother or nurturer which bares the burdens of children.
Fulfilling the roles of both mother and breadwinner creates an assortment of reactions for the narrator. In the poem’s opening lines, she commences her day in the harried role as a mother, and with “too much to do,” (2) expresses her struggle with balancing priorities. After saying goodbye to her children she rushes out the door, transitioning from both, one role to the next, as well as, one emotion to another. As the day continues, when reflecting on
The mother, however, refuses to acknowledge the child as anything but a child is a major conflict in this poem. Because she refers to her as a?child? and calls her?baby? it is clear that the mother does not take the child?s pleas seriously. The mother is certain that she knows what is best for her child and that the child?s feelings and ideas are unimportant.
Katherine Philips gained a lot of attention as a poet after writing “On the Death of My Dearest Child, Hector Philips”. This poem was written in a way to give readers an emotional account of a mother mourning the experience of losing her child. Philips expressed deep emotions from a maternal standpoint in the elegy. Unlike Jonson, Philips had the unspoken right of claiming a deep maternal connection with her son through pregnancy and childbirth. Philips’ approach to writing “On the Death of My Dearest Child” illustrates that the pain of losing her son, Hector, was enough for her to never write another verse again.
This, in fact, is an example of “dynamic decomposition” of which the speaker claims she understands nothing. The ironic contradiction of form and content underlines the contradiction between the women’s presentation of her outer self and that of her inner self. The poem concludes with the line “’Let us go home she is tired and wants to go to bed.’” which is a statement made by the man. Hence, it “appears to give the last word to the men” but, in reality, it mirrors the poem’s opening lines and emphasises the role the woman assumes on the outside as well as her inner awareness and criticism. This echoes Loy’s proclamation in her “Feminist Manifesto” in which she states that women should “[l]eave off looking to men to find out what [they] are not [but] seek within [themselves] to find out what [they] are”. Therefore, the poem presents a “new woman” confined in the traditional social order but resisting it as she is aware and critical of
" its hard not to feel some sadness or even a feeling of injustice. All the incidents that I mentioned in the previous paragraph are among the many vivid images in this work. Brooks obviously either had experience with abortions or she felt very strongly about the issue. The feelings of sadness, remorse, longing, and unfulfilled destinies were arranged so that even someone with no experience or opinion on this issue, really felt strong emotions when reading "The Mother". One image that is so vivid that it stayed with me through the entire poem was within the third line.
This, of course, is of little interest to the Formalistic Critic; the new critic cares not for such trivial details. Biography is not important. History is not important. The poem - that is important, for locked away within its verse lies the true meaning of The Stolen Child. By carefully studying the individual words, by understanding the tension that lies between them and the various denotations that they may hold, the critic can discover how the poem works as a whole, and how it succeeds in generating emotional impact within the reader.
“The Dead Baby,” gives a perfect example of Modern poetry, as it is direct and vivid in its portrait of an average family’s journey through grief. The details of the child death and the parent situation beyond this moment are undefined, but not matter the heroic or tragic story it could be, the reality and honesty of the poem is strong and beautiful.
Keats begins this depiction of beauty in the first stanza by describing the woman, the “bride of quietness”. She is said to be the “foster-child of Silence and slow Time”; Keats uses the term foster-child to demonstrate the difference between the work of art and humanity. The woman is a foster-child of Time because she is “for ever young” and beautiful while the natural children of Time are forever changing and aging. Keats then goes on to say how the woman tells a “tale more sweetly than our own rhyme” (Wood, 1). The tale she tells is one of love, endearment, and the pursuit of love. Our rhyme could not possibly overpower the beauty of this tale of love when our words are forgotten as quickly as they are spoken. A piece of art, however, is eternal.