Why we chose family as our group's theme

Family is something we all grow up with and its inevitably close to our hearts. From family, many things come to mind, love,care,childhood, and so on. Family is important to each and everyone of us and so we feel this would be a good topic to choose. As many say, blood is thicker than water, naturally with that statement comes many strong ties and memories that are brought back from childhood days and so we felt that we would be able to relate better to poems of this topic than to others.

Dusting by Julia Alvarez

Each morning I wrote my name

On the dusty cabinet, then crossed

The dining table in script, scrawled

In capitals on the backs of chairs,

Practicing signatures like scales

While mother followed, squirting

Linseed from a burping can

Into a crumpled-up flannel.

She erased my fingerprints

From the bookshelf and rocker,

Polished mirrors on the desk

Scribbled with my alphabets.

My name was swallowed in the towel

With which she jeweled the table tops.

The grain surfaced in the oak

And the pine grew luminous.

But I refused with every mark

To be like her, anonymous.

By Julia Alvarez

Analysis:

The poem is about a young girl who tries to leave imprints on the dusty objects in her house but are wiped away by her mother. The word dusting, means to wipe the dust off the furniture in the house but in the poem, it actually means that the young girl in the poem want to be different from her mother, erasing her mothers accomplishments and accomplish different things. Lines 17-18  “But I refused with every mark

To be like her, anonymous.“ shows us what the girl thinks about her mother’s achievements. She believes that her mother has obtained what other people would have obtained, however, her mothers achievements are like glass to her, transparent. S he does not want to be like her mother, thats why she leaves her. We will stop at nothing to be better than the other, no matter what the setbacks are thrown at us, we would never let them break us. She also scribbles the words in capital letters and she does it every morning, this shows that the young girl does not want to be like her mother and is very strong-willed not to be like her mother.

 The second stanza talks about the contradicting things that both the young girl and her mother want. From lines 12-13 Scribbled with my alphabets.

My name was swallowed in the towel. The young girls wants to accomplish different things from her mother and expresses this by keeping on scribbling things on the furniture but her mother wants  the young girl to be like her mother and shows this by keeping on cleaning away the scribbles the young girl made on the furniture. Many parents want their child to be like themselves as they believe that the child can do better that way. The child is then not able to choose their own path which they like but instead they have to follow their parents. The child would feel that their freedom has been taken away from them and the will not perform well in their studies. I believe that all parents should let their child choose what their child really wants and not force them to do something. To sum this poem up, I think it is about a young girl who wants to be different from her mother by accomplishing different things but the mother wants the young girl to be like her mother

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

 Well, son, I'll tell you:

 Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.                                
 It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. 

By Langston Hughes

Analysis:

In this poem, the persona  talks about how the mother is giving advice to her son by talking about how life is a staircase as it symbolizes how life is the exhaustive uphill climb in life and how it is hard at times for the poet as evident in the poem that "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair" .The phrase "crystal stair" refers to clarity and perfection without any obstacles which isn't the case for the persona and by using allegory, she elaborated that her life "had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up" which in this poem illustrates the sharpness and discomfort of life's obstacle and splinters represented the inflammatory pain and the difficulties in removing and overcoming this pain in life and from the line "And places with no carpet on the floor- bare" it means that the poet had to walk through the stairs of life with the tacks and splinters, dealing with the obstacles which came up, alone.The short free verse poem has no set rhythm, but the poet uses line length to give emphasis to specific words and phrases. He uses the word “Bare” on a a by itself to emphasize the word’s symbolic meaning of alone.  The shorter lines move faster when reading and other lines have a longer lasting meaning due to more words in the line. From line 3-6, the images in the poem revealed a ragged,old staircase. Repetition also adds to the imagery of the poem. The constant repetition of p's, t's,and s's render the reader completely breathless imitating the exhaustive uphill climb of stairs. Using the word "and" repeatedly creates a constant feeling of never-ending continuation.

However, the persona perseveres and has been going through problems, trying to solve them as evident in lines 9-11 "I'se been climbing on, and reachin' landin's and turnin' corners" meaning that she has been trying different approaches to solve the problem/challenge she has faced in life. This represents that she has often had struggles and moments of uncertainty in her life, yet she has always pushed through. Also, through language, the poet illustrates the sense of identity in the speaker with the use of the language of what a mother would normally use. Some examples from the poem is "ain’t", "finds it’s kinder hard" , and dropping the final “g” in words such as "goin’" or "turnin’" this used language gives the sense that the persona is a less educated woman. The less grammatical language gives the sense that the speaker wants something better for the son, but she knows he will still have to work for it.

"And sometimes goin' in the dark,where there ain't been no light" this two lines from the poem states that the persona had went through hardships without any guidance or help. And she tells her son to never give up as evident in the poem that "don't you turn back" even if he finds it hard as the persona is still hanging on, and it indicates that if she can, her son can, too.

 Through repetition on the last line of the poem she emphasizes on the extended metaphor of a crystal staircase, which symbolizes life steps one takes in life, one can infer that as long as a person is living, there will be more steps to climb. The last line of the poem "And life for me ain't been no crystal stair" links back to what the poet is trying to tell us from the start of the poem which is: in order to overcome the hurdles of life, a person must possess courage and determination.

The Nurse's Song by William Blake

When the voices of children are heard on the green

And laughing is heard on the hill,

My heart is at rest within my breast

And every thing else is still

Then come home my children, the sun is gone down

And the dews of night arise

Come come leave off play, and let us away

Till the morning appears in the skies

No no let us play, for it is yet day

And we cannot go to sleep

Besides in the sky, the little birds fly

And the hills are all cover’d with sheep

Well well go & play till the light fades away

And then go home to bed

The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d

And all the hills echoed

analysis:  

The scene of the poem features a group of children playing outside in the hills, while their nurse listens to them in contentment. As twilight begins to fall, she gently urges them to “leave off play” and retire to the house for the night. They ask to play on till bedtime, for as long as the light lasts. The nurse yields to their pleas, and the children shout and laugh with joy while the hills echo their gladness.

The tone of the poet was relaxed and she is relieved from stress. The evidence is“My heart is at rest” This shows that she was free of tension and anxiety from reality as she was watching the children playing in the meadow. “laughing is heard on the hill” shows that the children was ‘connected’ to the nature and their laughter signifies their innocence and how well they got along well with one another without alienation. “Everything is still” also suggests that the peace and tranquility she had in her mind was timeless and it was delightful for the poet to watch the children run around the hill light heartedly.The poet also uses rhyming words such as hill and still for the poem flow smoothly and to give the poem a rhythm.

The children were very reluctant to leave the hill. “Till the morning appears in the skies “ This shows that  The writer is trying to persuade the children by assuring them that they will be coming back to the hills to have fun the next day however the children refuses to listen and they are unwilling to go back home. “And we cannot go to sleep” suggests that the children are having too much fun and they are not satisfied to go to sleep.

The writer eventually yields to the children’s pleas. The evidence is ”Well well go & play till the light fades away” This suggests that the poet didn’t want to cast a gloom over their innocence but rather support it and she wants to embrace the children with gentle protection rather than to be overprotective.. “The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d“ shows how pure and innocent the children were as they were overjoyed at little things like more time to play. “all the hills echoed” suggests that the poet’s tranquility resonates with the innocent laughter of the children and the peace of the natural scenery of the hill in the evening.

A Boy Or A Girl by Regina M. Linn

At first you moved,
only a little.
I could always find you,
right in the middle.

As time went on,
you really started to grow.
It wasn't a whole lot,
in fact, it was rather slow.

Before I knew it,
you were all over the place.
It kind of felt like,
you were running a race.

People would ask me,
if, you were a boy or a girl.
I would sit and wonder,
if, you would have curls.

There are so many things,
I really want to know.
But, you are hidden inside,
so the answers don't show.

How much will you weigh?
How tall will you be?
What colour is your hair?
Will you even like me?

I hope and pray,
you feel like you belong.
I never want you to feel,
like you are alone.

Your Dad and I,
planned you from the start.
You, my dear child,
were made straight from our hearts.

In about a week or so,
I'll meet you, for the first time.
For you are the product,
of your Dad's love and mine.

There will be no one like you,
not any place in the world.
It really doesn't matter,
if you are a boy or a girl.

We are both so happy,
that you even exist.
The gender doesn't matter.
you'll be hard to resist.

I hope I make you proud,
that I am your mother every day.
Because, you have filled my dreams,
in more ways, than words can say.

It won't be long before,
I can look you in the eyes.
I can feel the excitement growing,
I know I'm going to cry.

Don't worry my angel,
those tears will be of joy.
It won't matter to me,
if you are a girl or a boy.
by Regina M. Linn

ANALYSIS OF POEM

This poem is about the process of thoughts that goes through a mother's mind when she is pregnant and when her baby is growing in her. The whole poem describes the whole process of pregnancy, from when the foetus first appears to when it starts moving and finally to when it is going to be given birth to. Throughout the whole poem, the persona's thoughts change, from wondering and being very curious about whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl, to realising that the gender of the baby did not actually matter to her, because no matter what the outcome was going to be, she would still treasure and love her child. The persona talking to her child in this poem.

In stanzas 1-3, the persona is describing the beginning of pregnancy and how the fetus developed in him.

Stanzas 4-6, it illustrates the persona's thoughts, emotions and  even worries of how the child will turn out to be like. It also shows us that she wants to know all about her child and is anxious to do so.

Stanzas 6-12 the persona shows the love she has for her baby, never wanting it to be alone. She also emphasizes on how the baby is the result of "Dad's love and [hers]" and how the baby would be one of a kind, and will always be special in the persona's eyes. As the persona feels that the baby will be special in her eyes no matter what, the persona realises that gender does not really matter to her anymore as she will no doubt love her child no matter what gender it is ok.

In the last 3 stanzas, the persona has built up a strong connection and love for the baby.  She does not  care  about what the gender of the baby is by the end of the poem and have decided that all she wants is for her baby to be happy in this world.

This poem includes rhyming words that allow the poem to flow nicely.  This poem shows the growth of motherly love in the persona throughout the whole poem. Futhemore, the poet takes us through the whole thought process of pregnancy and ends the poem with the love of the mother for her child.  It states in the poem that 'It won't matter to me,if you are a girl or a boy." which shows how the persona will love her child no matter what gender her child is or how her child looks. It emphasizes on the majestic motherly love she possesses.

Thus this poem is about the process of pregnancy and the thoughts and emotions that come with it. It is a inspirational poem.

x