The Lost Woman, Patricia Beer

The “lost woman” is not lost. Her daughter is.

Patricia starts the poem on a very personal note talking about “my” mother. It startles the reader to know that the mother “went with no more warning”, the reader is scared to know that the death of the mother was sudden. Enjambment used to highlight the contrast and tension at death of a person with a “bright voice”.

The reader imagines a usual happy day for the girl returning from school when reading “school” and “brook goes under a lane”. The next line highlights brevity of life with “shocking white” as if messenger of death has come to take the mother away in the “ambulance”.

The poetess uses enjambment again to bring out break in the relationship in the beginning of the second stanza. The reader is shocked with the daughter that the mother did not come back from the hospital and the daughter did not even attend the funeral. The words “a romance began” take the reader into the world of fantasy, the imagination of the daughter into another realm. It clearly charts out a sojourn into the extraordinary. The author uses the word “ivy” to show that her mother was clingy, dependent, insecure person. “Turn” has been used by Patricia to show a change, a transition, from reality to fantasy. “into a tree” shows the mother’s transition into a solid, confident and dependent person. Patricia has created a muse here words like “began” and “turned into”. The muse clearly exists till date “still” and is illusory hence is a “rainbow”. The words “I approach” show that the poet is now seeking the strength of the mother. It is the daughter now who is dependent, for she is the one that “clutch”es.

                                                                                                                                

The words “I made” show that the poetess has created an imaginative life for the mother. “Frustrated no more”… in her imagination the daughter has created an exciting life for the mother, she is a hero for she runs a “canteen”. She romanticizes the mother’s existence here, makes her a hero. She mother does not have a “frustrated” marriage any more. In her attempt to remove the “dull” part the daughter in her own way gives the mother “wit”, a “summer school”. The mother’s life “over the years” was rewritten by the daughter with “made.

Every artist has a muse, an inspiration to spark the creative piece of work. In this case for Patricia it is her mother. She has “acquired” a woman to “haunt the home”. The muse is something to yearn for and “desired”. It seems like she is hiding a “corpse” a person or secret so that no one gets to “know”. The poet wants to keep a secret, something that will not “grow”, no one will get to know about it.

The poetess feels that her muse, her “mother” is “nearly always benign” leaving a hint that there are times she is not so benevolent, kind. The author creates an image of a person who does not scare you in the “dead” of the night yet dawns on you during the “soft” light. The mother does not “chide”. The poet is talking about a perfect muse here. A person who has been long forgotten yet remains soft and comes to almost protect you being “soft”. The dead mother is being idolized since she does not scare but is “soft”. Perhaps the daughter wanted a soft and a not a hard mother in her growing up years that is why the muse is “rabbit-light”

Patricia prepares the reader for a transition with “But”. Her “lost woman” is unlike the perfect use who does not scare people. Her “lost woman” is someone who “snaps”. The last stanza brings out the angst of the mother against the daughter. The daughter for whom she “sacrificed” for the mother wanted the daughter to go beyond the mother and “rise”. The reader can imagine that the daughter took the opportunity to “rise”. The vision created is that of a soul which has emanated from a body and become a “ghost”.

The mother thus accused the daughter of being “lost” of being a “ghost”.

Heart and Mind 

Edith Sitwell

That the heart and the mind can not be one has been brought out in “Heart and Mind” by Edith Sitwell.

She brings the Lion and Lioness to life and blood of a human being and makes them converse. “Raging fire” brings out animal power and passion – focuses on the primitive and raw nature of creatures in the jungle.

The first two lines are about acceptance of death as the Lion and  Lioness will then be “dust” bereft of “heat” which is passion of the youth.

The lion asks lioness to “remember” their union in “blood and bone”  and makes the colors of red and white come alive against “amber” and “dust”. The use of the colors contrasts feelings and emotions of life in “red” and death  in “dust”.  The lion wants the lioness to “remember” that their union will remain till after death and is immortal. The color of “amber” against “dust” contrast beauty against death.

The strength, vitality and energy of youth comes to the fore in the “rippling of bright muscles”. Since the lion is talking about their death they will “mate no more” which is to say that their union will not be possible till such time that the “fire” which is heart and the “moon” which is the “mind” are “one”. The poet also refers to objectivity of the “mind” which is “cold” and the subjectivity of the “heart” which is “fire” becoming one in death that is “dust”. Despite their strength and power all will become “dust” and what will remain is in memories only thus the author uses the word “remember”.

Death personified in “Skeleton” transcends “Time”. The “heat” of the “Sun” is “mourning” – this refers to power of passion which is an overwhelming emotion and can kill – thus the use of the word. “Time” is ultimate, nobody can defeat it.

The poet refers to the “Samson” and “Hercules”, known for their strength and heroism. Yet, “flames of heart” were responsible for their downfall and “consumed” them. “The mind is a but a foolish wind” portrays the image of person who has fallen in love and the “mind” too gives in and becomes “foolish”. That heart and love can take over and destroy intellect become clear here. The is powerful yet destroys the strongest of men, makes their mind weak and feeble.

The “sun” representative of the heart and emotion says to the “moon” representative of cold logic that only when “time is done” will the passion and emotion of the “heart” and the “mind” be unified. The phrase “a lonely white crone” creates the image of an old cranky thin woman. The “king” conjures the image of power and passion which is now “in a dark wood” – that is hell after death. The words “golden armor” suggests a royal protective shield  which now is in a coffin “dark wood”. Words like “wood’ can be interpreted by the reader at many levels, one death and that too beyond death in hell.

Their love is “hopeless” as the union of the heart and mind is impossible, which is the theme of the poem.

Coming Home

Coming Home

Owen Sheers

“Coming Home” is not a warm welcome but a cold start to a regular relationship. Owen Sheers writes about a man who left home a “child” and has returned a “man”. His mother let go of a “child” and wants this baby to comeback. At the arrival of a “man” her “hug” is “awkward”. The discomfort of the mom and the son is equally felt. The son can empathize with his mom wanting the child back. Owen tricks the reader from “open arms” almost waiting to hug the son yet there is a twist to realize that son is all grown up now and is a “man”. The words “this body of a man” create the image of a son who is a stranger in front of the mother. “Open arms” being reserved for a “child” and not “this” person uses enjambment beautifully to show that the return of this adult instead of a child is not what the mother expected.

The first stanza continues creating the image of a mother who is “flipping” and “patting” to show that her regular routine life continues. It brings alive the image of a woman for whom her make up is the “flour” that “makes her over”. It brings to the reader’s mind the drudgery of routine life of a woman and that her place remains in the kitchen. She has “wrinkles” and thus is old herself. The word “dusting” once again leads the reader on yet only to the “cheeks” being covered by them. Clearly, the mother has not lead a comfortable life either. The word "pat" has perhaps been used to "pat" the dough directly and the man indirectly. 

The father’s life is no bed of roses. Various words and phrases in the second stanza dedicated to the “Dad” show that. The words “still”, “reappear” and “again” focus on the acts he has no other choice, but to pursue again and again. Alliteration in the words “Winter”, “works” and “with wet wool” bring out the hardships that he continues to face come hail or snow.  His relentless pursuit is depicted in the words “he works on a hole” and nature takes him to task as the hole “reappears every Winter”. That is hair is “wild” creates the image of a man who is used to rough life of a farm and hence his pockets too are “filled with fillings of hay”. The alliterative use of the “f” sound in these words emphasize on the routine and mundane in the father’s life.

While the mother and father are engaged in action, the grandfather is “all seated”. His retired image is painted by the use of these words. The mother in the kitchen, the father in the wild and the grandfather in the seat. The transition of relationships is very clear. That the grandfather is growing old and at an increasing pace every year is brought out in the last stanza. That is life is short is brought home by the use of only four lines here against seven lines in the previous two stanzas. The grandfather’s old age and its shakes are brought out clearly in “unsteady” and “shiver”.

The common thread in the three stanzas is the theme of aging and life of routine. The mother made of by “flour” look, the father breath being “snagged” and the grandfather’s shiver’s becoming faster each year are silent witness to that process.

The tone of the poem is harsh. It makes the reader face the reality of life when a man returns home after many years. Things remain the same, the perspective of the one who comes “home” changes and becomes more mature.

“Coming home” is to many harsh discomforting realities of debilitating life.

Rohini Rode

August 11, 2015