A Comparison between Pounds Merchants Wife Character and Polly in Neighbour Rosicky - Essay Example

Polly is his city bred daughter in-law who develops a unique relationship with Anton before he dies. The poem "the River Merchant's Wife: A Letter" was published in Cathay: Translations written by Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound was referred as "the inventor of Chinese poetry" by T.S. Eliot. The collections mainly contain Chinese poems collected from the countryside. This poem talks about the feeling of a wife whose husband had been away from her for five months. Both the characters depict the shy and introvert nature of women, their difficulty to adjust in a new situation and the deep relations they develop with the people around them over time.

Both the Polly character and the wife character in Ezra Pound's poem have certain similarities between them. Viewing the general picture, the wife character in Pound's poem is a very shy character that is too bashful even to laugh at her marriage. Polly is an outright person born and bought up in the city. Both feel uncomfortable in their new roles as wives first. But, as time passes they realize love and compassion from their relatives. The wife grows to love her husband so deeply before she bids him farewell to work in a distant place.

All the worldly things and natural beauty seems pointless to her without him. Polly is a daughter of a widow. She is thin, blonde and blue-eyed with a distinct style and grace in the way she carries herself. As Rosicky mentions about Polly "Yes, She's a fine girl. Polly got lots of spunk, and she got some style too. Da's nice for young folks to have some style”. She feels like a lost deer when she gets married to Rosicky families elder son Rudolph. She feels the customs of the farmers strange and the extreme compassion of Anton Rosicky foolish.

But as time starts she grows to respect the deep values of Rosicky and tends to create a very close fatherly bond with him. Neighbour Rosicky The Rosicky family represents the life style of immigrants. Anton Rosicky the head of the family had a hard life in London. But, the perils of life couldn't alter his goodness. He eats a roasted goose reserved for a poor families Christmas feast on a Christmas Eve. Overcome by guilt, he puts his pride aside and begs a rich family to supply the poor family with good dinner.

The rich family helps him move to New York impressed by his humbleness. He works as a tailor there earning enough. But, he feels his life is meaningless and moves to Nebraska and starts his life as a farmer. Though the family suffers with the un-prosperous land, all the family members respect and love each other. As told by Dr. Ed "My Lord, Rosicky, you are one of the few men I know who has a family he can get some comfort out of; happy dispositions, never quarrel among themselves, and they treat you right".

Anton's selflessness and love is the reason for his children’s love. Polly doesn't have a clue about the hard life Rosicky has to undergo at his young life. She calls him Mr. Rosicky and her urban upbringing make her shrunk herself from the love shown by the Rosicky family members. She even feels awkward to accept Mary's constant gifts of eatables in the beginning. The only person who understands and approves her is Anton Rosicky. She learns about all the above mentioned incidents through various family conversations.

A deep respect grows for Anton in her mind, but she is doesn’t know how to appreciate him or express her feeling. Anton is diagnosed to have a severe heart problem which prevents him from doing hard labour in the farm. Rosicky stays home at the insistence of his wife Mary. But, he engages in tailoring and carpentry work. He insists Polly and Rudolph, his elder son spent some time in the town every week to make Polly comfortable. He helps his