Poems that Based on a Common Theme of Parenthood - Literature review Example

Compare and Contrast The paper focuses on the two poems, which are essentially based on a common theme of parenthood and the obligations it bears towards children and draws out a comparison between them. The poem “Watching my Lover” written by Lorna Crozier centres on the status of parents and their importance in the daily lives of the children. Old age takes its toll on the body a time comes when she needs to be tended like a baby. A mother brings up her child very tenderly and a baby, when he is born lies helpless in need of his mother’s care and assistance. When old age comes, it may be compared to second childhood. The mother who has once tended the baby and grown him up is now in need of his son’s arms and care. In this poem the speaker watches his lover showing his affection and care towards his mother who is sick and incapable of doing things on her own. In the first stanza, the son holds his mother as she vomits in a bowl and then attended to cleaning and changing her clothes with the help of his lover who is also the speaker. Since the strings were tied behind the back the speaker tried to remove the blanket from underneath the old woman and feared that her skin could tear off. This shows that the mother had become a mere cripple and her condition was too fragile. When old age is referred to second childhood, it is justified and sometimes ironical too. The poet talks about the paper diaper, the fragility and all these could be attributed to the status of a baby – “Everything’s so fragile here/a breath could break you.” (Crozier, line 14-15) The poet and her lover are at a loss and cannot really decide what to do. The mother who has once offered her milk to her son is now feeling shy when her son was undressing her. Despite the weakness she turns her face away and covers her breasts and the lover cracks a joke here, saying that he has undressed many other women before and so she need not feel shy. The tubes and needles used here reflect the medical treatment she was undergoing. The last two stanzas describe the poet’s feelings about his lover when she lies in bed besides him and what happens at the end of the day. The vision of tending his mother is so vivid in her memory that she almost smells him of his mother although he is washed. It seems as if she has licked him to prove to all the girls who lie with him that he is still his mother’s son. The poet ironically talks of the old woman’s tongue’ and might be a little sarcastic in her remark, may be because her time for fun has been shared by the old woman and she puns on the actions of licking. We find the mammals licking their off springs in stead of bathing them and a woman may lick the man for the sake of lust. To some extent the poet is disappointed, it seems but she also tries to show the very strong undeniable bondage a son bears to his mother and in this case the son is a dutiful one as he looks after his mother with all the sincerity and devotion that a mother bestows towards the son when he is young. The speaker has lost something in the daily cycle of life but sometime this loss is beautiful and that is what the poet portrays here. She loses out the time she has thought to enjoy with her lover because of his daily duties towards his mother. She also helps him readily but when she reflects after lying in bed what she has lost. Off course no girl would like to smell his lover of an old woman’s tongue. Besides he is already asleep when the speaker watches him breathing and his flesh warm. The last line is quite significant in terms of projecting the heritage and parent-child bondage that is the most cherished part. Some other poems of the poet, namely, “How to Stop Missing your Friend”, “Living Day by Day”, “he Dark Ages of the Sea”, “What you remember Remains and “Going Back”, also concentrate on the same theme of losses caused by accident, illness, aging etc. (Lorna, xiv) The poem reflects upon the daily responsibilities and challenges that one might face. The speaker and her lover are both inexperienced in some nursing activities, yet uses their sensitivity to get things done and there is a certain pleasure or satisfaction off course. This was a part of life although it demands sacrifice of certain other areas. Another theme highlighted here is the essence of memory. What we observe deeply and whatever we are engrossed with, will affect our mind profoundly such that these incidents may strike our mind during other times of the day. The poem “2-Keine Lazarovitch 1870-1959” written by Irving Layton also centers on the same theme as the other poem. Here also the author focusses on old age and parenthood. He was born of Moses and Keine Lazarovitch in Israel. His parents were almost diametrically opposite in nature. While his father was shy and religious, his mother was dominating and had a furious temperament. They had immigrated to Canada when he was one year old and settled in a neighborhood, which was impoverished. (Irving Layton, Poet) Despite all her ferociousness, what the poet also remembers is her pride and radiance. He writes this poem as an elegy to her after her death. The poem begins with the symptoms of old age and sickness and different figures of speech are used to describe the condition. He uses the metaphors “waterfalling hair” and “cold pillow” to describe the condition where almost everything has calmed down, she could not let out her fury so brilliantly as she had once done. The poet recollects how much she had loved god but cursed all his creatures and what she spoke before her last breath was not a request for water as it usually happens, but it was a curse that came out of the dark hollow of her mouth. The poet remembers his mother cursing all the beauty of nature around her and the very process of growing old. She was ignorant and forever displeased and very arrogant about her looks, which consisted of dark eyebrows and thick hair. The poet refers to her condition as “spoiled a dignity” which he shall not find anymore. He describes her mind to be stubborn and limited while nothing will now “shake her amber beads and call God blind/ Or wear them on a breast so radiantly” (Layton, line 15-16). The poet seems to recollect these memories with aheart full of affection and grief despite the ignorant rage and ill temper of his mother. This shows the value of mother to a son. The woman need not be perfect and warm, caring or loving but what matters is the connection of the son with her womd and this brings about the unconditional bond of affection and love. An important theme highlighted here is the inevitability of the process of ageing and death. Everyone whoi s born has to age and grow sick before dying provided off course it is a natural death. In this undeniable rule of the universe noone can escape and no matter how much dominant one has shown in his or her lifetime, nothing remains but dust after death. It also highligts the fruitlesness of beauty – “I believe/ She endlessly praised her black eyebrows, their thick weave,/ Till plagiarizing Death leaned down and took them for his mould” (Layton, line 11-12) . The memories are surely fresh especially to the son who holds his mother so dealry and this is expressed as he says, “O fierce she was, mean and unaccommodating;/ But I think now of the toss of her gold earrings”(Layton, line 17-18). Comparison and contrast The two poems bear a lot of similarities as well as differences. If we study the beginning of the two poems, both begin with a note of indication towards the mother’s old and sick condition. The main difference in the context lies in the fact that while the first poem was written while the mother is still alive and in need of treatment and nursing aids, the second poem is written after the mother is already dead and the poet is recollecting the memories of his mother. Both of them are Canadian poets. The use of metaphors and vivid comparisons is common in both the poems. The first poem describes the helpless condition of the woman in a pitiful manner. More than anything else, it shows the care of a son towards his mother despite all odds. The second poem is a mere recollection and demonstration of grief and affection towards the lost days where the peot saw his mother in her best spirits. The first poem highlights the fragile condition of the mother but someone who is submissive to her son and the lover as they are trying to help her out. The vulnerability is revealed in the words – “Everything’s so fragile here/ a breath could break you.” In the second poem the poet compares the status of the mother in her youth and in the crippled condition nearing death A very common theme of both the poems is the inevitability of growing old and the strong bond a child bears towards the mother. This love is unconditional and is felt at some point of time or the other. Some are lucky enough to get the chance of serving his mother in her day-to-day life. Others find a touch of grief and affection while recollecting the past memories of his mother and compare the change of her state and behaviour. While the first poem does not suggest much about the character of the mother the second poem centres mainly on this theme. The conditions and time changes as the mother will need to be treated like a child by her son. Daily responsibilities and some common inescapable challenges in life have been portrayed in the first poem while the second one centres on highlighting the natural process of life, which focuses upon the changes that old age brings about. The “cheeks’ hollows”, “white waterfalling hair”, “spoiled a dignity” all are in contrast to the “black eyebrows”, “their thick weave” which are the signs of youth and radiance. The poem reflects on the “inescapable lousiness of growing old”. In the first poem, the the old woman is not the mother of the poet and the speaker or the poet is a third person watching the mother of her lover in that sick and vulnerable condition. The poem brings on the element of modesty in the old woman in contrast with the arrogance and refusal to submit to fate in the second poem. In the first poem the mother is modest as she tries to cover her breast as her son undresses her. The second poem is diferent and the symbolic term “breasts” signifies modetsy in the first poem and valiance in the second. Symbolism plays a crucial role in both the poems. In the first case, the terms like “tubes and needles” and “paper diaper” helps in creating an ambience of sickness and nursing. Another important contrast is shown here in the poem itself. The poem highlights the difference between the love for a parent and the love towards one’s partner. The term “Lover bares his mother” is sued purposely to highlight this difference. This act was not one of lust but that of tender care and affection. The second poem also uses symbols to highlight the transformation and the attitude of the parent towards death and aging. Also the central focus is on the memories recollected by the poet and not any distinction of the theme of love itself. In conclusion, both the poems reflect the status of parenthood from different perspective. The poems highlight the inevitability of death, aging as a natural process and the attitude of children towards their parents. In the current scenario where the children are increasingly bending towards nuclear families and gradually neglecting their responsibilities, these poems are a refreshing lesson for the present generation. References 1. Crozier, Lorna, “Watching My Lover”, 2005, retrieved on March 16, 2008 from: http://www.lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/2005/12/28/lorna-crozier%e2%80%99s-watching-my-lover/ 2. Crozier, Lorna “Before the First Word: The Poetry of Lorna Crozier”, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005 3. Layton, Irving, “Keine Lazarovitch 1870-1959”, 2006, retrieved on March 16, 2008 from: http://briancampbell.blogspot.com/2006/01/keine-lazarovitch-1870-1959-when-i-saw.html 4. “Irving Layton, Poet”, 2006, retrieved on March 15 2008, from: http://irvinglayton.blogspot.com/2006_01_05_archive.html   Read More