I Wash The Shirt Analysis

In the poem “I Wash the Shirt” by Anna Swir, a Polish poet whose works deal with themes including her experiences during World War II, describes the last goodbye to her beloved father. The reason I choose this poem because the poem uses distinctive language to show her emotions of saying goodbye to her father’s decease. The poem captures the scene of a woman who faced to let the last touchable piece of her father. Swir led us to her childhood with her father and the special aroma of her father’s decease which she will never able to feel that again. Throughout of the poem, the shirt is symbolic of the leftover of the remnants of a personal relationship between a father and daughter, following the father’s death.

At the beginning of the poem, she writes, “for the last time I wash the shirt / of my father

She kept washing her father clothes time to time, and she still remember how he used to wear them. Washing her father’s shirt was a daily habit that she did for her father. It also shows that she is very care about him. Then she states, “From among all bodies in the world, / animal, human. / Only one exuded that sweat. / I breath it in/ for the last time.”, this part shows the solid relationship that only has with her special father. From all around the world the “smells of sweat” on her father’s shirt was the only one that was so special to her. It clearly reflects the uniqueness of her father and their binding relationship. She tries to breath the “smells of sweat” from the “shirt” for the time because she will never have change to smell that sweat again. this is the only time that she could smell and memory about her father. The action also indicates deeply the daughter’s love for her