Literary Devices In The Pomegranate Poem

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

Few relationships are as deep as those between child and parent. While circumstance and biology can shape the exact nature of the bond, a child’s caretaker is the first to introduce them to the world. And as they grow and begin to branch out, children look to their parents as a model for how to interact with the various new situations. Through allusion, potent imagery, and nostalgic diction, Natasha Trethewey constructs an idolized image of a father guiding their child through life’s challenges only to convey the speaker’s despair when they are faced with their father’s mortality in “Mythmaker.”

The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.

In stanza 2, he writes “My mother’s countenance/Could not unfrown itself” (7-8); just because her facial expression shows disappointment doesn’t mean she should continue to let her child handle this situation. When the father and son were in the kitchen knocking things off the shelves the mother walks in; her walking in and doing nothing shows signs of neglect. Children shouldn’t have to deal with problems that are out of their control. This display and upbringing takes away his innocence and childhood the more it

The parents understanding of knowing that the child needs security is just one the many responsibilities they have for being a parent. Furthermore, the parents feel that even though the situation there in is very frustrating, they would not give it up for anything. The love for their child will never go away. Kinnell expresses this feeling of love on the last couple of lines of the poem:

Free-range parenting is the philosophy that many parents believe that their children the freedom and ability to do things the parents were able to do when they were children without the constant badgering by overbearing parents. With that being said, within the poem “The Red Hat” by Rachael Hadas, the author plays around with the literary tactic of a narrative poem in which the speaker of the poem is the mother of the child who’s growing up right before her own eyes. Questioning herself with thoughts such as: Was it too soon to let go? How could I have predicted the emotions I would’ve been overwhelmed with? The mother ultimately struggles with her decision whether or not she chose the right age to let her child walk home alone. She questions

Almost like how the seasons change, as time went by the depiction of the pomegranate tree exemplified the development and changes in Amir and Hassan's relationship in, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Early in Amir and Hassan's so called friendship, the two of them often spent their time under the pomegranate tree at the top of the hill, where in the bark of the tree Amir carved, " 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours" (Hosseini 27). The tree was something that brought the two of them together and during this time their connection was still jaunty. However, as time went by and the seasons changed, their relationship transformed, and so had the meaning of the pomegranate tree. Each time they

The author praises the mother by claiming she is more noble than males in perseverance and more manly than men in endurance. Although the mother was strong she did

Thus, introducing our second poem, which touches on a very different stage of motherhood; letting go. The story of To a Daughter Leaving Home is about a mother teaching her daughter to ride a bicycle, which is a monumental stage of development for most children. However, I think the poem is a metaphor for something even bigger. as the title suggests I believe the true meaning is about having your children physically leave home. For a mother this is probably the most simultaneously rewarding and frightening moment to endure. The poem talks about how the mother watches the child speed away from her, growing smaller and more breakable, this to me symbolizes the devastating transition between a child’s complete dependence on their mother, to the genuine need for independence they require to become an

The poem describes/separates the fights and complains of a poor lady who has had many (too) early or soon births. The mother has going ahead with tension and stress on account of her troublesome choices. The first (or most important) line of the main poem, "(too) early or soon births won't let you (ignore/not notice)," instantly attracts thoughtfulness (related to/looking at/thinking about) the title, "the mother," and to the importance of "feeling of love"-- what it has meant to the person who tells stories (or lies) to love her children or, rather, the kids she may have

“Walking Away” by C. Day Lewis is about the father watching his son leaving home and going out on his own. They poem conveys the parental love and sad parting of father and son as the son comes of mature age. The poem starts with the poet remembering back to 18 years. Author uses strong imagery throughout the poem to relate to his son leaving home which helps the readers to understand the difficulty he, as a father, with letting go of his son by using flashbacks “A sunny day with leaves just turning, the touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play”. The four stanza poem is balanced out with the use of rhyme which evokes a sense of nostalgia in the reader, making the reader look back when they first left their child at school. Poet also

Those Winter Sundays In this poem by Robert Hayden, the author speaks of his father as being a hardworking man that goes through the same backbreaking routine every day of the week to provide for his family, even on Sunday which is supposed to be the day of rest during the week. The constant willingness to get up early every morning to go out and work to be able to provide and the authors feeling of missing his chance to show appreciation for his dad’s work seem to be the theme of this poem. The poem describes how the work the father did everyday took a toll on his body, but he continued to do it so that he could survive and his son could have a good life. The first stanza talks about how the author never showed gratitude for his

Kenneth Slessor is the poet that composed Sleep. Slessor is an Australian poet and journalist that was from a German-Jewish origin. Slessor's poems falls into three consecutive periods and Sleep falls in to the third period. Sleep uses Slessor's his themes and techniques to create contemporary and vivid images with change, the passing of time and impermanence referred through out it. Sleep was written at a time when Kenneth Slessor had turned his vision from the bush to the city for inspiration.

Patriarchy is the collective system of a culture in which men possess more power than women, and women are expected to submit to men. Erroneously, many people believe that men are the sole contributors to the issue of patriarchy and that only men maintain patriarchal thinking. However, women contribute equally, if not more to the perpetuation of patriarchal attitudes as they instill these male dominating beliefs into their children. As a result of generations of female oppression, many women have adopted the dysfunctional coping strategy: obedience equals survival. This dysfunctional mechanism resulted in unhealed wounds; wounds which mothers’ project onto their daughters.

Lack of education can also impact parenting or caregiving practices, which in turn, can compromise a child’s healthy development during his/her early years. This concerning detail was presented in the poem when Jason was playing unsupervised in the junk yard that lead to his injury. According to the research conducted by Joan Luby, M.D. and her team at Washington University School of