The person behind the poem seems kind of angry, disappointed and thoughtful. I think that the daughter is probably sick and in agony. The speaker seems not to be happy because he or she knows that the daughter will die and for her/ him is very difficult to accept it. It also seems that the speaker has only one daughter, and she/he hates seeing how she suffer that she does not want to know about having another one, " I have no daughter. I desire none", (line 10).
I can say that I'm confused because the speaker make the daughter seems as she were living in domestic violence because he or she says "Death in certain war, the slim legs green", (line 10). When i read the part of the slim legs green i think about the bruises that people get after they got hit.
When the speaker refers to the daughter as a "Bride of a syphilitic or a food", (line 10) i could say that the groom is a bad man and the daughter knows but she just does not want to leave him so the speaker leaves and say that he or she doesn't have a daughter.
LIVED DOMESTICITIES
i agree with this statement above because i do sense the unhappiness in the speakers dialogue and voice. I also believe it is more to the whole poetry then jus what we read
ReplyDeleteDiana, these are good observations. But follow the punctuation when you interpret lines. Therefore, the sentence begins on line 7 with "Parched years that I have seen/That may be hers appear: foul, lingering/Death in certain war, the slim legs green"(7-9). What does the speaker mean by "Parched years" that the speaker has seen "that I have seen"? Which years? When was this poem written? which war is being referred to here as "certain war"? What does it mean when something is certain? Does it mean that is has happened? or is it happening? or will happen? Also, note that the speaker says "Or...perhaps the cruel/Bride of a syphilitic or a fool"(Kees 10-12)? What do "or" and "perhaps" suggest about these events taking place? Have they actually happened? What does "syphilitic" mean?
ReplyDeleteSukari- please explain why the lines Diana cited reveal the speaker's "unhappiness"? Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "I also believe it is more to the whole poetry then jus what we read"?
I don't believe the author meant that the daughter was actually married. It seems to me as though she might be talking about what her future could have been like, had she not been dying at the moment. This poem has me a little confused though. I'm not even sure the daughter is dying at all because the person from who's perspective this is says, that the hintings of death are concealed. It seems like in a way, the mother or father, is resentful and really desires to not have a daughter, as "I have no daughter. I desire none." might imply.
DeletePlease start making connections between all three poems we will discuss tomorrow. How is Kees' poem similar or different from Hughes' poem? from Blake's poem?
ReplyDeleteMiss B yes you are right it was my mistake because i did not count the lines correctly.
DeleteCertain means that nothing will stop people for doing something or for happening something. In this case the War II happened,nobody could stop it, i had to be part of the story.
When the speaker says, "parched years that i have seen", (Kees line 7), he refers to the War II which happened between 1939 and 1943, and the poem was written in 1940.
For me it also means that in those years there were so many people death and lack of food, many illness such as syphilis were spread all around the country and that the economy was very bad.
Professor B I'm confused but what i think is that the speaker is referring to his country as his daughter and he did not want that to happen back in his days.