A Closer Look: Keeping Orchids
“Keeping Orchids” is about someone who was separated from her
biological mother at birth. The central character if the poem
struggles to keep the memory of her meeting with her birth-mother
alive. This reunion with her mother has affected her deeply, and she
feels rejected and frustrated, as it appears her mother has had
another child, which although this child is now dead, the mother still
kept and cared for it (shown in the line, “a digital watch her
daughter was wearing when she died”.). The orchids the mother gave the
central character could symbolize her relationship with her mother.
Throughout the poem Jackie Kay compares her relationship with her
mother to the orchids of the title. In line 12 she first makes this
analogy between her mothers hands and the orchids when she says “…my
mothers hands are all I have”. This quote describes how the orchids
are expressive and in the authors mind are strongly linked to her
mother. This connection continues further into the poem and shows us
what the poem is really about. In line 10 the author talks about the
flowers having “…skin…”.
When Jackie Kay mentions how, “some of the buds remain closed as
secrets,” (line 3) She is talking about how she hardly knows anything
about her mother even though she thinks she should. She uses the
orchid analogy to show how her relationship with her mother should
have bloomed, but has stopped unnaturally.
The poem is made up of 15 verses, the first 14 consisting of 2 lines,
whilst the last one stands alone with only one line. This last line
being by itself could represent Jackie Kay’s feelings of isolation and
confusion due to her separation from her mother.
Most of the poem is in present tense, including flashbacks to the
meeting with her mother, “her hands, awkward and hard to hold, fold
and unfold a green carrier bag,”. This makes the reader feel as though
Jackie Kay is desperate to grasp onto any memories of her mother she
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
Each stanza is composed of words that present a logical flow of growth through the entire poem. The words in the poem do not rhyme and the lines are different lengths.
Lastly, Alexie sets forth a particular structure and form in this poem. The stanzas are
last, which is four lines. In the first three stanzas, the poem is told in
At the very start of the poem, the speaker states firmly, “I want you to know one thing.” A descriptive and long stanza follows his brief statement. His third and fourth stanzas are similarly short being three and four lines long, respectively, and followed by another flowery stanza. His
You must analyse at least six poems, ensuring you include at least one pre-1914 poem.
which each stanza is written in a quatrain gives the poem unity and makes it
The poem is divided into 2 Stanza's with 3 lines each. And there are an
The first stanza of the poem makes the reader think that it is a love
In relation to structure and style, the poem contains six stanzas of varying lengths. The first, second, and fourth stanzas
Subsequently, the next line is one word in its entirety. Williams’ uses one word lines a total of four times in this poem. Each one is succinct, having only two syllables. The word “upon” is suggesting responsib...
This is a long one-stanza narrative poem. All the lines have five stresses and are written in iambic pentameter or blank verse, which was also Shakespeare's chosen meter in his plays.
The form of this text is a poem. The visual appearance of the text on the page indicates to us that it is a poem: it is positioned in the center of the page and it is made up of uniform sections, or stanzas. The form is more constrained than that of a novel, which runs freely across the page from left to right. The text also utilizes formal poetic features, such as: multiple stanzas containing equal numbers of lines; line breaks between stanzas; and a regular number of beats per line. The knowledge that Judith Wright is a well-known poet adds to the evidence that this is a poem.
poetry and one of the greatest lines to be found within modern poetry. It not only appears
The construction of the poem is in regular four-line stanzas, of which the first two stanzas provide the exposition, setting the scene; the next three stanzas encompass the major action; and the final two stanzas present the poet's reflection on the meaning of her experience.