Public domain
In the article “How to Read a Poem” from the Poets.org website, the poet William Carlos Williams, in acknowledging the challenges of reading poetry, writes that a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun.
With specific reference to one of this week’s poems, explain how you “completed” what the poet set in motion. In your answer, be sure to refer specifically to the article and to quote from your chosen poem to illustrate your response.
Also, address comments to others by name so we can all follow along.
63 thoughts on “Week 12 Discussion”
The poem that struck a core in my heart this week was “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poetry is a complicated and calculating thing, every poem you come across will invoke or promote a feeling or highlight some great epiphany. I believe that Gwendolyn was trying to highlight those small but impact moments where an abortion defines what you’d missing out on. She tried to capture and illustrate what life would’ve been like if you decided to keep that one child and she takes you through all the simple pleasures and responsibilities you’d have to uphold. I completed what the poet set in motion because I am empathizing with that feeling of imagination and wonder after a life altering decision. I feel the poet’s sorrow and it makes me feel sorrow for all the people who live with this imagination and wonder of a different life. In the article “How to Read a Poem” the author talks about how the “act of completion” is based upon the readers interpretation of the imaginative world that is created within the poem, as well as the readers point of view of these events. The part of the poem that resonated with me the most was…
“Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.”
For me this part of the poem captured the essence of what Gwendolyn Brooks was trying to illustrate within the poem. For me it signified a dream, the imagination of what could’ve been followed by the thoughts of all the opportunities that these children could’ve had. Abortion is a choice no one should take lightly; it is the ultimate choice one could make, and I feel so much empathy for all the strong women who also have these moments of wonder and have to deal with these tough decisions. Understandably this poem makes me more appreciative of women all around the world because of how strong they must be in societies all around the world that tell them what to do with their bodies. My heart goes out to them.
Giovanni, thanks for starting things off so well. I think you’ve expressed the sense of loss and longing that runs through “The Mother.” I think the title itself says so much given that the speaker has decided not to be a mother. I think the empathy you express here is very much a way of “completing” the poem by trying to imagine being in the situation of this woman. It’s quite remarkable that a poem can make you appreciate women in general for the things they often have to go through.
Hello Giovanni, you expressed about the poem in a very touching manner. I like the mention about what a mother who had an abortion is missing out on. I also find the poem very sad and I could empathize with the mother in the poem. It is a very harsh thing for someone to go through all that pain and suffering of one’s unborn child, and knowing that she will never be able to hold the child, and will have to live with the guilt and regret for the rest of her lives.
Hello Giovanni,
I also chose the poem ” The Mother ” because as you said it struck with my heart. It is a poem that is full of emotion and makes you wonder a lot of things. I like that you refereed the poem to a dream or imagination of the opportunities the child could’ve had if they were alive.
Hi, Giavoni The poem you selected is a very outstanding piece of writing. Gwendolyn talks about how you remember the children you got and the ones you did not get. The mother’s abortion did not let you forget. The poem is actually a scratching satire on African American societal trends. When a woman aborts her child for the sake of pleasure and liberation, I really like your words. Abortion is a choice that no one could make, and I feel so much empathy for all the strong women who also have these moments of wonder and have to deal with these tough decisions. You perfectly put forward the idea of Gwendolyn’s poem. So a strong mother should never try to think about abortion, while she should behave positively beyond profit and loss. Women are more appreciative in every society, so they know what to do with their bodies.
Hey Giovanni, I really like how you explained the writers poem and made it so much easier for us to understand. Mother is one of the best gift in one’s life and the sacrifices they make are not explainable. Really appreciate your thoughts on women and how you acknowledged them.
The poem that I found most interesting that was most outstanding was “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. While reading poetry it allows you to create questions and feelings in your head, and it highlights a lot of important facts whether they are direct or indirect. Gwendolyn in this poetry was highlighting the most important part. We as mothers go through a journey with our children and in this particular poem she talks about the little things that makes us whole that we miss out on. How if a mother aborts her child she doesn’t get to feel the pleasure she would get through the little things, how she misses out on the responsibilities. I completed what the poet was trying to get across because as a mother, I sympathized, I allowed myself to create a imagery for mothers that makes a choice that deeply affects them in the future because of the things they miss out on. I was able to determine the hurt through the poem and how the hurt relates back to mothers feeling this way. In the article ” How to Read a Poem” the author talks about “seek an understanding of that moment,” that comes from being able to as the reader reading the poem to be able to interpret and understand what’s happening in the poem and how can you take it in into your knowledge of understanding. The part of the poem that stood out to me most was ..”I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.”
This part of the poem was very interesting and made me feel such an emotion because when people abort their babies they realized they killed an innocent life. They realized they made a decision they can no longer take back and it becomes a sad sorrowful moment. That she hears the voices of the dead child, and how she have contracted to let the baby abort itself and how it will never get the change to latch onto her breast to feel the nutriments flow through for the baby to suck on. It creates such emotion and imagery for the reader to understand and empathize. Abortion is such a tough decision to make and mentally no-one is ever ready or prepared for that so for this strong woman to follow through with it makes me as a woman look and value us woman more because we bare so much than our arms can handle.
Samijah, thanks for the good remarks about “The Mother.” I’m wondering what you did to “complete” the poem. Which particular technique or action described in the Hirsch article did you bring to bear?
I completed what the poet set in motion because I empathize and gain this imagery of what the poet was trying to get across, and I also am able to look at it on the other side if she was able to reverse and change that decision. What would the life altering decision be? if things were different.
Hello Samijah, I hope you are having a wonderful day. What you wrote struck a warm chord in my heart. I love what you said about how we miss out on the things that make us whole. It made me think about a lot of things that I missed out on and how maybe missing out on those things prevented me from being a better more complete version of myself. Just like the author of this poem, I dream about this life too and I wonder about what would’ve happened if I made a different life altering decision.
This poem is a wonderful piece. Gwendolyn talks about how he remembers the children you did and the children you didn’t have. Your mother’s abortion did not forget you. This poem is actually a satirical satirical about the social tendencies of African Americans. I like your words very much when a woman aborts a child for joy and liberation. Abortion is a decision that no one can do, and I have these mysterious moments and am very considerate of all the strong women who have to deal with these difficult decisions. You have perfectly implemented the idea of Gwendolyn’s poetry. Therefore, strong mothers should not think about abortion. Meanwhile, she needs to act positively about her profits and losses. In any society,
Hello Samijah, thank you for your post. I would like to make a comment about one of the phrases in your response: “they realized they made a decision they can no longer take back. “ I think that the most hurtful moment here is that women do not want to take thing back, I think that whenever they were making this very specific decision, they had no other choice but to abort. I agree with you and would say that abortion indeed is tough decision and the author clearly shows how those mothers have to live with the consequences of their choices.
As you said, it touched my heart, so I also chose the poem “Mother”. It’s a moving poem that tells us a lot. I like to associate poetry with dreams and ideas of possibilities that a child might have had if they were alive.
After reading the poem, My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning, the role of a woman laid heavily on my mind. In the poem, Browning writes about how the Duke killed his past Duchess because she didn’t live to please him, and now is looking for a new woman. The poem depicts the Duke as well off, however, the way he views women is quite upsetting. For example, Browning writes, “Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, /
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without /
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; /
Then all smiles stopped together” (Browning). The Duke didn’t like that his Duchess was kind to and paid attention to others, specifically men. Therefore, he “gave commands” to her, probably in regards to whom she could interact with or smile at, and whom she could not. Rather than abiding by her Duke’s wishes, however, the Duchess decided not to smile at all, further angering the Duke, as he could not control her. This poem was written in the 1800s, a time where women really didn’t have many rights, and were often forced into submission in their marriages. I find it very interesting that Browning wrote about a women (of power nonetheless), who chose to challenge her husband, and thus was killed for her actions. I think Browning wanted the reader to evaluate how women were being treated, and more so, how men were allowed and supported in their maltreatment of their wives. We see that the Duke’s behavior was allowed from the visitor coming in to marry off his daughter to the Duke shortly after his Duchess’ death.
Anna, this is an excellent analysis of “My Last Duchess.” This duke is a horror. He is controlling, egotistical, and vicious. But he is also so full of himself that he doesn’t realize how much he reveals about himself as he chats on and on with the visitor. He seems to feel that women exist only to please him.
Hey Anna,
I agree with you, My Last Duchess tells about the treatment of women. This poem expresses the arrogance of a male superiority. Under the duke’s desire for control, the duchess finally could not escape the end of death. How small and insignificant women were in that era, they had no rights, it could be said that they were “fish on a sticky board”.
Hey Anna
I agree with you this poem tell us about how the women were treater. This poem express how the duke want to control everything that the duche do with this arrogance thinking that he is superior just to be male. How the duches do not let the duke control her, she end up death. The duke think that women are made up to please him.
Hello Anna,
I want to start off by saying that I completely agree with you, and the poem is does tell about how the Duchess is treated and it shows how dominant and superior the duke was over the duchess. How he has this controlling desire over the duchess and how there seemed like a hint of jealousy. He tends to reveal a lot about his character while telling what happened and why it happened that way. Only to give himself this image at the end.
Among the poems I read this week, the one that impressed me the most was “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is very short, it only takes 24 words to complete such a meaningful poem. It contains, skip class, going out at night, partying, drinking, fighting, but they are proud of their rebellion. And the price is that they die soon. Their life is really pleasurable, but their behavior will put them in danger. They have not received a good education, and it is foolish to waste the time of their vitality. Their existence or non-existence has absolutely no effect on this society.
“We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.”
This is a poem about rebellious youth, vividly depicting a scene of perplexed rebellious youth waste time of their lives. It depicts the social reality that the entire society is perplexed and decadent under various repressions, minorities are discriminated against, and young people express their dissatisfaction with reality through self-exile. The subtlety of this poem is the use of seven “We”. It makes the whole poem very rhythmic to read, and the last sentence “We die soon” is even more subtle to end the whole poem.
ShiHao, this is a great breakdown of “We Real Cool.” I’m not sure what you did to “complete” the poem. It sounds like you had some play with some of the wording, so I wonder if you read it aloud? Did you apply your own experience to it? We’re not really looking for analysis here but personal response and engagement with the poem.
Yes, there will be rebellion among each of us, but we need to stop the ruined decision. So here I said that they are wasting the time of their lives and is imbecile, because their existence cannot affect this cruel society, they are just abandoning themselves.
Hi Shihao Chen,
I also liked this poem. Although short, it has a whole story within the lines. The writer was able to incorporate the ultimate aspects of the rebellious youth in only 24 words; the drinking, partying, and the almost inevitable end. I felt that you analyzed the poem analytically. But did you think that there was something left that you would need “to complete,” as was said in our topic discussion? Or did you do you related to the poem somehow?
Hi ShiHao, I agree. This poem is really interesting in the fact that it depicts rebellious teens, and how they choose to spend their time. While as we may read the poem and think that they are wasting their time, from the poem, it is evident that they don’t believe drinking and partying is a waste of time. In fact, they believe that their lifestyle is what makes them “real cool” (Brooks).
Hi, Shihao. I agree with your some comments and I like this poem as well. You said that they don’t have good education. In fact, they do have, but they don’t want to learn. You don’t comment how you complete the poem. I think that seven teenagers real have fun. They get drunk, go to play pool, and listen to music. The final result is die young and wasting their time.
This week’s assignment struck my mind because the instructions that we had were about somehow completing what the poem has begun. Going back to the material available to us made me realize that the answer was lying in front of us. The answer to “complete what the poem has begun” is to dive deep into the poem. To do so, we need to analyze the poem based on our perspective. This is very interesting because each of us will have a different perspective on the same poem since we will analyze the poem based on our view, which counts in our life experiences. For instance, I like the closing verses on the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey.
“She laid her hands on me,
then washed out my mouth
with Ivory soap. This
is to purify, she said,
and cleanse your lying tongue.
Believing her, I swallowed suds
thinking they’d work
from the inside out.”
I identify myself with these verses because I lived something similar to what the protagonist lived. My mother would punish me when I did something against her religious and conservatory beliefs, hurting her identity.
Hi Deanne! I also love “White Lies” and found it very relatable. I agree, the way the individual interprets the poem can have great variety as the poem acts as a mirror that pulls out our feelings and perhaps past memories. I also found the last lines very beautiful and question if they are literal or metaphorical.
The poem that struck me the most was “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poems promote feelings and cause great dilemmas like what Gwendolyn did with this poem. “The Mother” is a poem with a lot of feeling that makes clear all that you would lose by practicing an abortion, something that you will not be able to forget. “Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air. ”
Gwendolyn illustrates how life would have been if she had not aborted, this poem allows you to see the pleasures, the fears, the responsibility of having a child but also makes it clear that with the abortion only imagination and regret will remain in vain since no you may regret it because there is no way to undo it “Although why should I complain?
Whining that the crime was other than mine? –
Since you’re dead anyway.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never created.
But that too, I’m afraid,
It’s flawed: oh what am I going to say, how can you tell the truth?
You were born, you had a body, you died.
It’s just that you never laughed or planned or cried. ”
This poem is like a dream or an imagination that all the consequences that an abortion would bring, what life would have been like with that baby, what it would have done and how it would feel after having an abortion, a regret in vain.
Hey Ivanna,
I also chose the poem ” The Mother ” because I believed it is one that can be analyzed from many different ways. I agree with everything you said in particular when you said that this poem is like an imagination of all the consequences that an abortion would bring. I also said that the mother was going against her demons and the possibility of what she lost when having an abortion.
Hello Ivanna,
I think you’ve picked an excellent poem, I also chose the same poem and think you’re interpretation from it is great. This poem can be analyzed in so many different ways but the biggest analysis from it is that what life is like without a child that will never be able to be born due to a great loss. How one can miss out on so many great opportunities. How she faces so many deep and inner thoughts because of baby she could’ve potentially had if she kept it.
Hi Ivanna, I also chose “The Mother” exactly because of those first few lines you mentioned. Of all the poems we read, I felt it was the most powerful and evoked the strongest emotions. I also found it frustrating to read, in a way, as it reminded me of all the times I’d heard people judge women who had chosen to go through with an abortion for being heartless, as the author is very clearly not heartless at all.
I think you chose a fantastic poetry; I chose the same poem and think your version is fantastic.
This poem can be evaluated in a variety of ways, but the most important one is to consider what life is like without a child who will never be born due to a tragic loss. I’m not sure how someone can miss up on so many wonderful possibilities. How she is dealing with so many deep and inner feelings as a result of the kid she may have had if she had kept it.
The poem that I complete to is “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. In the poem, the narrator is talking to her dead children who were never born. She talks about the pain and sufferings she has to go through because of the abortion. To me, this poem shows a mother’s love for her children, whether the children are dead or alive. In many parts of the world, abortion is believed to be a cruel action—an inconsiderate deed by a heartless mother. It is something many frown upon. However, by reading this poem, we can learn that regardless of why a woman aborts her child, she will go through the pain of the motherhood she never experiences. She has to face the consequence of her actions through pain and heartache. As I read the poem, I can feel the pain the mother is going through. She laments the dead of her unborn child, and cries over the opportunities she robbed away from the child. She reflects upon all the things she does not get to do for her child, and with her child. “Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.” I deeply connected to this sentence. Sometimes, as a human being, we do things intentionally although it might not be our first choice. Similarly, I believe women have to go through abortion despite the love they feel for the unborn child. It could be that she is still very young to have a child, scared to be a single mom, or is shamed by the society. Or maybe she just is not ready to have a child yet. Regardless of the reason, she will still suffer for her actions. Another part that I connected to is “Though why should I whine, Whine that the crime was other than mine?—“ With all of the sufferings she is already going through, she blames herself when she is sad because it was she who killed the child. This poem makes me feel emotional. I feel sad for the child, and the mother. Despite the motherly love she feels for her child, she will never be able to hold her child.
Thin Yadanar, As you did I also feel sorry for the mother who has to bear the loss of her child and mother is the only person in this world who live to sacrifice for their child but in this poem mother loses her child only because of her wrong action which she has to deal with in her entire life and I hope God will give her and women like her a strong power of strength and live their life. I wish no mother would have to deal with this kind of situation.
also chose “The Mother” from the primary line you mentioned. Of all the poems we read, I felt it was the strongest and evoked the strongest emotions. It was also frustrating to read when women remembered those who accused abortion of being rude because the writer was honestly no longer rude.
Out of all the poems I have read in this past week, the poem that stuck with me is “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is about a mothers grieving experience with the dead child that she aborted. For whatever reason she did have an abortion, we can still see that she is not a heartless mother than doesn’t care about the action she took which is what most people see in a women who had an abortion. The poem states ” You remember the children you got that you did not get…The singers and workers that never handled the air”. The author is trying to illustrate how life could have been like if that child was to be alive. This poem is about a women facing her demons for making a mistake that she might now regret. Her thinking about how a great and successful life her baby could have had is the pain that she has to go through because of her decision.
For this week I am so excited to read the poem “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. This was tragic poem of a mother. this way my best choice which make me feel read pome again and again, Because this was so heart touching poem from a mother. She had abortion of her fatal child and she was so guilt about that because she now she realize that she love her child a lot and she was being so sorry about the incident and she was expressing her pain in the words “But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.” In this Rhyme, she is saying that her baby was born and died like every human being does the only difference was her baby never laughed and cried. Although her baby was dead it seems that she love her baby a lot than anything else in this world. This is the real love of the mother shown in the poem where she is not able to forget her baby and she is trying to make her babies memories and make her relief. This poem shows how mothers have to go through in this world and how they have to deal with this kind of pain and fight with themselves. That’s why society shouldn’t have to give any pressure on women who have to deal with this kind of situation instead we have to love them and support them to deal with this kind of situation.
This week’s poem selection was rich in styles and topics. I spent a fair amount of time sitting with each of them. Eventually, I decided to focus on Irishman William Butler Yeats’s 1888 lyric poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”
The imagery used by Yeats is incredibly vivid. There is an oniric quality to his depiction of this charming countryside island. I found the repeated use of the “L” sound (to the point of alliteration such as in “And live alone in the bee-loud glade”) conveyed a very soothing feeling, in line with the peacefulness Yeats is describing. The repeated use of “dropping” across lines also accented the meaning of the word. Yeats’s visions of “morning,” “midnight,” “noon,” and “evening” show us how peaceful the place is at any time of the day.
Strangely, it was not any of this beautiful imagery that truly made my imagination run wild. Rather, it was the second-to-last line, which suddenly pulls me back to the narrator’s reality. “While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,” evokes an urban environment far removed from the idyllic setting that Yeats just spent two-and-a-half quatrains depicting. The poem takes a turn in this last third, and we finally understand that this is just a vision and that our narrator is indeed daydreaming, maybe even recollecting.
There is something sour in that line, very matter-of-fact. “While I stand” indicates how our narrator is passive and resigned. The choice of the color “grey” conveys this bleakness. From then on, my mind started wandering around the noisy, crowded, harsh, bleak streets. I saw images as vivid as those at the beginning of the poem, even though these were not written explicitly. It amazed me how much could be conveyed with a single line, half a sentence. The last line, “I hear it in the deep heart’s core,” echoed that beauty trapped within, unable to express itself but in poetry.
Hello Anastasia,
Awesome analysis. It is good that you notice that the man is daydreaming about the place. The memories surely bring him peace in times of trouble and discomfort. I feel bad for him because he has to face the harsh urban reality as opposed to being in the ‘peaceful’ cabin he dreams about. I like how you relate the color grey to ‘bleakness’. It does give that impression. Your ‘vivid’ mental pictures prove that you engaged with the poem by allowing it to capture your imagination. More so, I am also very impressed when poets can accomplish so much with just a ‘single line’. Excellent organization of ideas!
Hello class, the poem that I have chosen to write about is “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. There are many poems where it can be difficult to read what the poet is trying show but in this case it was very obvious for me. This poem was about how an abortion can impact a mother’s life in such a great way. The way I can complete this poem is by showing other people that even though people or couples have made a decision like abortion they still have love for that child. In this poem the author shows this in the end
“It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.
Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All”.
Even though she never got the chance to meet the child in person and wasn’t able to hold her she still loved them. Throughout the poem Gwendolyn poem he showed how the decision impacted her in a great way that the mother wasn’t able to name the child, let the child cry or laugh that she was feeling the affects of her decision but she still able to love them. This is how I want to complete this poem is by showing that mothers make hard decisions that they feel right for them and even though people look bad at that decision they can’t judge without being put in their shoes. Also that the mothers still love their child no matter what.
I believe the author of ‘How to Read a Poem’ communicates that a poem is made whole when it is received and explored. More specifically, the poem is meant to ‘challenge’ the mind of its reader and capture his/her imagination. For the outpouring of the poet’s creativity must be met with the ‘curiosity’ of an engaged reader.
The poem that captures me is ‘The Last Duchess’.
Often, I fall prey to the ‘misconception’ that if I do not understand a poem on my first try, that ‘something is wrong’ me. Luckily, I began to grasp the essence of the poem on my third attempt.
In my mind, I can picture a beautiful and charming woman-the duchess. Her endless tank of ‘joy’ attracts admiration and compliments from ‘men’. I figure she exuded the charisma of a little girl for she was ‘too soon made glad’ and ‘too easily impressed’. Just as an inquisitive little one, ‘her looks went everywhere’. The descriptions make me smile. I perceive her to be pure hearted and full of life.
Unlike I , the duke was is unimpressed by the charm of his wife. As opposed to being proud of being her husband, he is filled with jealousy. He is puffed with pride because he offers her a ‘gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name’. he expects that his wealth and prestige warrant significant reverence from his wife. I picture that he is an arrogant man who demands that his ego be stroked. More so, I am challenged by his extreme hatred for his wife. Was it her ‘joy’ or ‘smile’ that unsettled him? It is utterly disgusting that he went as far as murdering her. Even more horrifying is that he deems it appropriate to narrate his atrocities to the representative of a prospective suitor. Or could his outpours be a result of the weight of guilt on his heart?
I believe the poem demonstrates the complexity of heart of mankind. Particularly, the poet’s portrayal of the duke illustrates how wicked a man’s heart can be. I see deep insecurities leading to deeper envy and eventually leading to murder. As a reader, I complete this poem because I allow it to challenge my thinking and fill my imagination.
Hello Olere,
I enjoyed reading your words, especially since I almost went with that poem myself. I found it difficult to understand at first, because of the dated language and long sentences crossing over many lines. After a couple of readings, the story became clearer. On my next reading, I was able to focus more on the psychological aspects. The second sentence, “I call [t]hat piece a wonder, now,” has a chilling effect. It summarizes perfectly the Duke’s vision of his late wife. All the words of affection and admiration the Duke expresses are aimed towards the picture version of his wife. When he mentions his wife, it is with condescension and acrimony. This helps get a clear picture of what their relationship was. The way the murder is implied in passing, with the echo of the beginning’s “as if alive” at the beginning of another line, forces you to fill in the blanks. The Duke also has no particular “skill [i]n speech” as he mentions, so the poem is devoid of imagery and metaphors. The last sentence about the bronze sculpture of “Neptune […] [t]aming a sea-horse” is the only metaphor in the text, although unintentional from the Duke’s perspective. It epitomizes the Duke’s vision of women and how he seeks to dominate them to flatter himself. Despite the poem mainly being “factual,” it leaves a lot for the imagination to run wild.
Hello Olere. I also wrote about “My last duchess” by Robert Browning and I completely agree with all the points you made. You mentioned how it took you three attempts to fully grasp the essence of the poem and I had a similar experience. I read this poem three times, once in my own words and twice as it was originally written and intended by the poet. I agree with your description and understanding of the duchess’ personality and found the comparison of her to a little girl very interesting. I think your understanding and analysis of this poem is very well written and I believe, according to William Carlos Williams, you have “completed” this poem.
For today’s discussion board, I decided to comment on the poem “the mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. By looking at the title, reader sees that the poem is going to trigger some emotions. It starts with “abortion will not let you forget” and reader definitely knows that the poem is about something that cannot be overlooked. Indeed, Brooks shows us the hurtful part of the motherhood one may or may not experience. She lets everyone see how much pain can come along when a mother makes a decision to kill her own child, to poison the beginning of their breath. Mother feels devastated, she hears her child’s voices, she feels the loss of a baby who couldn’t even make it to the world. Mother lost a child who never even giggled or cried in the arms of a parent. I completed the poem by thinking more deeply about the problem from mother’s perspective. Usually when woman makes that decision, we see how society judges her. This poem helped me realize that it may be the mother who judges herself more than society can judge. People never know how much effort one has to put into making such decision – it is not easy and Brooks says that it has long-lasting consequences in the form of the feeling of loss and love at the same time. I think I completed the poem by learning that when mother proceeds with abortion, it does not make her cold-hearted over the subject, it makes her vulnerable towards the consequences of her action, so society needs to be there for support, not for judgement. I had to reread the poem several times to feel the emotions that Gwendolyn Brooks tried to embrace the poem with and some of the phrases felt more hurtful each time :
“You were born, our had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.”
While reading this part, it felt like I was hearing the voice of an unborn child.
The poem that provoked lots of imagination and wonder for me was “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey. This poem left a lot to wonder as I’m sure many can relate to being young, and having a hard time accepting yourself. The lies are very innocent such as lying about where she lived, where her clothes came from, and then even about her race. I “completed” this poem by expanding on the type of person the narrator is. She is clearly ashamed of where she comes from, her home life, and is desperately seeking acceptance. This is very personally relatable as when I was a child I would often lie about small things such as the games I owned, what my family did, as a way of seeking acceptance. Clearly the author and myself felt as if what was truth was not good enough, and was very afraid of rejection and scrutiny.
The poem that stood out to me the most was “The Mother.” This poem about abortion evokes powerful emotions, and shares just how difficult a decision it is, and how abortion can affect someone for the rest of their lives.
After only reading the opening passage of “Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,” I knew this would be the poem I would choose. I completed this poem as it made me think of the political debate regarding abortion. Opponents of abortion often portray the women who choose to go through with this as heartless, and careless, which I’ve always found to be naïve and a poor stance to take, as judging a choice like this is, in my opinion, not something anyone uninvolved is in a place to do. Reading this, you really recognize that the mother judges herself more than anyone else ever could, and thinking of all the arguments against abortion I’ve seen now where, as mentioned, the women are portrayed to be heartless is very frustrating.
The position of a woman became very significant to me after reading Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess.” Duke killed his former Duchess because he wasn’t alive to please him, and is now hunting for a new wife, according to Browning’s poem. The Duke is also mentioned in the poem, although his attitude toward women is rather troubling. Browning, for example, writes: “Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without /Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; /Then all smiles stopped together” (Browning).” Duke detested the Duchess for being kind and obliging of others, particularly men. As a result, he gave her her “enlightening.” Maybe it’s approximately who you’re talking to, who you giggle at, and who you do not chuckle at. But rather than taking after her Duchess’ wishes, the Duchess chosen not to grin at all. It was exacerbated by the failure of their Duke to control them. This lyric dates back to the 19th century. Ladies at that time did not have numerous rights and were constrained to wed. Browning composed around a lady who was slaughtered for what she did since she chose to challenge her companion, which I discover interesting. Browning needs individuals to get it how women have been treated within the past.
The sonnet that I caught my attention was “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. In the sonnet, the storyteller is conversing with her dead youngsters who were rarely conceived. She discusses the aggravation and sufferings she needs to go through on account of the fetus removal. As far as I might be concerned, this sonnet shows a mother’s affection for her kids, regardless of whether the kids are in any condition. In many regions of the planet, fetus removal is accepted to be a savage activity—an impolite deed by an unfeeling mother. It is something many disapprove of. Notwithstanding, by perusing this sonnet, we can discover that paying little heed to why a lady cuts short her kid, she will go through the aggravation of the parenthood she won’t ever insight. She needs to confront the result of her activities through agony and despair. As I read the sonnet, I can feel the aggravation the mother is going through. She regrets the dead of her unborn youngster, and cries over the chances she burglarized away from the kid. She reflects upon every one of the things she doesn’t get to accomplish for her kid, and with her youngster. “Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.” I profoundly associated with this sentence. In some cases, as an individual, we do things purposefully in spite of the fact that it probably won’t be our best option. Likewise, I accept ladies need to go through early termination regardless of the affection they feel for the unborn youngster. It may be the case that she is still extremely youthful to have a kid, frightened to be a single parent, or is disgraced by the general public. Or on the other hand perhaps she simply isn’t prepared to have a youngster yet. Despite the explanation, she will in any case languish over her activities. One more part that I associated with is “Though why should I whine, Whine that the crime was other than mine?—” With every one of the sufferings she is as of now going through, she faults herself when she is tragic on the grounds that it was she who killed the kid. This sonnet causes me to feel enthusiastic. I feel tragic for the kid, and the mother. Notwithstanding the nurturing love she feels for her youngster, she won’t ever have the option to hold her kid.
Hi Adonys, I completely agree with you. Just like yourself I chose to write about “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. You were able to explain so well how the mother is feeling throughout the poem. How she is sorry for taking every little steps your child could’ve taken but also shows how much she loves them even though the woman was never able to meet her children physically. The las thing I would like to Mention is when you pointed out how the mother maybe did this because she was young herself scared or ashamed and that everyone has a different experience.
I chose to write about the poem “My last Duchess” by Robert Browning. One way I “completed” the poem was by reading aloud and listening to my voice and the sounds the words make so that I could bring the poem into my point-of-view. I read the poem three times, once “translated” in my own words with modern English and twice as it was written and intended by the poet. The poem begins with the speaker showing his visitor a portrait of his last duchess. The duchess is described as being friendly and warmhearted which annoyed the speaker because she was treating others with the same kindness and warmth she was meant to treat her husband with. “She thanked men, — good! but thanked Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift.” (Browning Lines 31-34) The theme of the poem is jealousy and hatred. The speaker mentions how he wants his wife to act a certain way and despises the kindness the duchess has towards other people and men. It was soon revealed that he (the speaker) had purposely had his wife (the last duchess) killed. “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.” (Browning lines 45-46)
Hello Shadai,
Hope all is well. When reading a story through different voice perspectives we get a glimpse of how different words were said and interpreted, and can draw new meaning. I also read this poem twice, listened to the audiobook, the interpretation video, and now reading your post. Each reading has helped me gain a new viewpoint of small details to paint the picture of the story told. Each time I gained a new type of reading, I learned just how arrogant and awful the husband was, and how he had represented how women were treated like an extension to their husbands rather than their own person, and you highlighted that well with the quote chosen.
In this week’s reading, I would say that the most interesting poem is “We real cool.” The poem is very short and written in rhyming couplets. The poem consists of five stanzas. As I read it first time, I feel that seven teenagers are rebellious. It is easy to relate the poem with teenagers’ life. Teenagers don’t like to stay at school for long time, but this would lead bad results. In the first stanza, we know that there are seven teenagers going to a place called Golden Shovel. They stay out late, drink cheap alcohol, and listen to Jazz. The last line “Die soon” directly show the bad results of bad behaviors. The most interesting part is symbols. There are many symbols in the poem. For example, the name of pool hall is golden shovel. Golden sounds expensive and alluring. However, shovel is a tool that people use to dig holes. It means that the teenagers dig their grave. School is a symbol for authority.
Hello Deli wu, I also reached the same idea. You accurately described the poem in a concise manner as well. It’s interesting that you brought up the symbolism that’s in the poem. I didn’t think about the golden shovel but the way you describe it, I understand the poem more now. Something to think about is how the teenagers know about their own fate while still doing said actions that will lead them to an early grave.
The poem that struck me the most was The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poems that evoke feeling and empathy I am most drawn to. In this story, the Mother is dealing with the intense grief that comes with abortion, an event bound to leave you with a million what ifs. In “How To Read A Poem”, a poem that does not reveal itself completely and leaves the piece to interpretation is one that stays more relevant and on our minds. I “completed” this poem by interpreting and resonating with the pain that comes with asking yourself how things would have been if I had done something different. That conversation within your mind is endless, and allows one to open old wounds and create new ones. I created my own vision of the mother’s grief, and therefore added to it’s mystery. The line that I resonated with particularly is “Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?—
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead, You were never made”. This line hit me hard, because it’s hard to grieve what happened and what has not happened when it was your own doing. It is difficult to empathize with your self sometimes when you are the cause.
Hi Caroline,
I enjoyed your analysis of the line “Or rather, or instead, You were never made.” You are right, grief can feel painful and isolating – especially because of a decision on your own part. How can you share that grief with someone? “Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.” With compassion and empathy, hopefully she can one day forgive herself. Although gone, the “child” will always be a part of her. With an unmatched bond, “Believe me, I knew you.”
The poem that I found most interesting is “White Lies” by Natasha Thretway. Poetry is a very complex form of writing because every poem has a different motion and appeal to its readers. It leaves the reader with many open-ended questions and thoughts. It allows the reader to contemplate and analyze each line according to its motion and mindset. It is a very interesting piece of work that is an emotional appeal from Natasha in which she tries to assert the identity issues of mixed-race people who are living in America. The author of the article “How to Read a Poem” talks about “seeking an understanding of that moment” when a reader grasps the poem perfectly and completely comprehends what is going on in it and what the hidden meaning of its words are. The sole purpose of writing this poem is to express her sentiments and emotions about mixed races. These lines touch my heart very deeply
“The lies I could tell,
when I was growing up
light-bright, near-white,
high-yellow, red-boned
in a black place,
were just white lies.”
The speaker in these lines tries to uncover the racial differences and dividing lines between American people. Racism is widely prevalent in South America. Being white was normalized, and whites were treated better than African Americans. There was a widespread belief that white people were superior to black people. The child aspired to be white since she was raised in a society that viewed whiteness as superior and saw the benefits that white people had. After that, I found the most interesting element in the poem, its symbolism, that caught my heart. She used symbols like “white lies”, “Maison Blanche”, and “Ivory soap”. The white lie depicts that white is actually a sign of peace, purity, and harmlessness. While some lies told as a child did not cause any harm. She beautifully co-linked “White Lies” to other important symbols like Maison Blanche and Ivory soap. The Maison Blanche is a store that connects all the racially different people on one platform. After that, Ivory soap is used to clean and purify the hearts of every American.
The poem “the mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks has caught my attention the most. The poem is describing abortions and a mothers love and guilt towards all of her “dim killed children”(Brooks line 11). I feel that I “completed” what the poet set in motion by being able to grasp the message she was sending to her ‘children’; Not that it was a difficult message in the first place. In this poem the emotions that are floating is guilt as well as compassion. Guilt for ‘killing’ the unborn child, and compassion for the unborn child itself. “Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate. Though why should I whine, Whine that the crime was other than mine?” (Lines 21-23). These lines in the poem specifically show the guilt as she explains that she shouldn’t complain about something she made a choice on. Compassion is shown at the end when she says, “Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you All” (Lines 32-33). When she says ‘you’, she’s referring to all of her unborn children. She’s expressing her love for them, though she feels guilty about committing ‘crime’.
The poem that had me hooked and hit my inner emotions was “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poem is one of the most eligible way to grab one’s emotion and it is the best way to connect with another. And through Gwendolyn’s poem we can connect with the emotion a mother faces when she has to let go.
Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
Due to many reasons a mother has to make decisions that might look very negative to the outside world and make her look bad but only she knows the pain and feeling she went through to take that decision. In this poem Gwendolyn talks about abortion and she tries to say that just because a mother gives up on her child does not mean she doesnt love them or forgot its just hardships that took over.
The poetry that had the most impact on me was Gwendolyn Brooks “The Mother”. Its an emotive poem about a woman who regrets having abortions. The speaker recalls her prior experiences and the children she’ll never actually “get” throughout the poem. She speculates about the individuals they could have become as adults and even addresses them directly. The speaker of the poem concludes by expressing that she “loved” all of the children she nearly had. “You remember the children you got that you did not get,” the poem says, the author is portraying what life can be with the child. Her sorrow originates from her regret for the beautiful life her child could have but with her actions, many things changed.
The poem that piqued my interest was “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey. Poetry has a great way of making its readers connect dots purely on whatever is given within the poem. Trethewey uses this method by telling this poem through a first-person lens of a young mixed speaker. Throughout the start of the poem, the speaker expresses how easy it was for them to lie about being white due to their lighter complexion, or as the speaker describes it “light-bright, near-white, high-yellow, red-boned”. This poem clearly takes place in a time when racial tension was at its peak, reading further made me aware of that instantly. You get a feeling that the speaker is almost forced to lie, being caught in between being African American but having light skin, she is lost. I was able to complete what the poet has started by relating this poem to my own personal experience, being black and trying to cast aside my own culture and identity to fit in with others.
Hello, the poem that struck my mind was We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. The poem is really short but its message is really big, the poem begins portraying what makes the kids on the poem ”real cool” then it switches off right away to the message. The poem goes like this ” We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Brooks structured this form mainly to speak to the youth, the writing in this poem is not that complex and it’s understandable to nearly anybody, if you skip school, stay out late, drinking liquor, listening to harmful music and being rebellious you are basically digging up your own grave. The poem is relatable to me because growing up in a bad neighborhood your surround by other kids doing bad things and thankfully i wasnt easily influenced to be like the others from where im am from.
“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is much shorter compared to the other poems but I still enjoyed it. I finished the poem by talking back to it and by asking questions about it. For example, who are the Pool players and who is the “We” that’s commonly used throughout the poem. And by considering the time period in which this was created, they more than likely meant teenagers who wanted to be cool. Each line is describing actions they do with the eventual conclusion with the decree that they will die soon with said lifestyle.
The poem that captivated me the most was “white lies” by Natasha Trethewey. When people think of poetry they think of rhyming and using figurative language. But poetry is more meaningful than that because it evokes emotion in the reader and is an art form in human language.
I could even
keep quiet, quiet as kept,
like the time a white girl said
(squeezing my hand), Now
We have three of us in this class.
The speaker in these lines is having an identity crisis, where she is constantly lying about her skin color, where she lives, and where she buys her clothes. she was so light-skinned that she could pass for a white girl and she would just lie that she was white. She is withholding information as if she’s happy to be mistaken for white. Although she will be only one of three whites in the class, she keeps quiet because she views being white as better, even if there are fewer in the class. I really like the iteration used when the white girl holds the speaker’s hand because it makes it seem like she is being forced to choose a side and by grabbing her hand it’s clear she chooses to be white. This shows that the speaker is having internal problems. she is pulled between two worlds. Her lies are making her lose her black side even more because of the fact that she isn’t willing to accept that part of herself.
Edward Hirsch suggested asking a general questions when approaching a poem for the first time. Reading poetry is part attitude, part technique. Poems offer clues to help find deeper connection to a story.
Who or what is the audience in the poem, “The Mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks? The first half of the poem is directed at herself and other mothers suffering a loss or multiple losses. “You will never wind up the sucking-thumb.” She has received multiple abortions, “You remember the children you got that you did not get.”
The mothers point of view is about remorse for the decision to abort her fetus. “Abortions will not let you forget.” In the last half of the poem, she changes who she is addressing. She is now speaking to the “child”. “You were never made. But that too, I am afraid.” With regret and remorse, she asks for forgiveness, “Believe me, I loved you all.”