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The Mother's Song

The poems reflect both positive and negative experiences of life. The first poem details the happiness of raising a child, while the second explores the difficulties of solitude and cold temperatures. The third poem shows how one can find happiness despite adversity through simple pleasures and the ability to overlook fatigue or poor conditions.

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20 views2 pages

The Mother's Song

The poems reflect both positive and negative experiences of life. The first poem details the happiness of raising a child, while the second explores the difficulties of solitude and cold temperatures. The third poem shows how one can find happiness despite adversity through simple pleasures and the ability to overlook fatigue or poor conditions.

Uploaded by

leo9999331
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How does the poem reflect the experiences of life

Each poem reflects the experiences of life by going into detail about the happiness induced
through raising a child. The Poem titled “The Mother’s Song whose author is anonymous
though it is known as a song of Inuit origin. On line 7 we can see the author state “Is it
strange if I start to cry with joy?”. This demonstrates the profound positive effects of having
a family which is a crucial part of reflecting the experiences of life.

The second poem titled “First Ice” by Andrei Voznesensky reflects the experiences of life
by delving into its negative aspects. In her case it appears to revolve around her difficulties
with the frigid temperature of her environment as well as her solitude.

On the first line the author writes “A girl freezes in a telephone booth.” This is a bold and
direct statement highlighting her struggles with the temperature. On line 11 Voznesensky
states “Frozen tears glitter on her cheeks”, further explaining her situation. We can see this
exacerbated on line 3 and 4 where Voznesensky writes “A face smeared and in tears and
lipstick.” If the girl being referred to in the story can afford and use makeup it would also
suggest that she has the ability to aquire items that negate the effects of freezing
temperatures. This can be interpreted as her struggles with cold being a metaphor for
solitude rather than literal cold. This can be seen on line 7 where it reads “She’ll have to go
home alone, alone.” The poem's repetition of the word “alone” can be seen as
emphasizing the issue. We can see this again on line 11 where it reads “Frozen tears glitter
on her cheeks”. Hypothermia alone is rarely a direct cause for experiencing tears which
could be interpreted as her having a different issue being solitude. Directly after on Line 12
it reads “The first ice of human hurt”. The word first suggests it is about the girl specifically
as many people before her have experienced both literal cold and solitude.

The poem Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay reflects the experience of life by detailing
someone's ability to push through adversity and find happiness in their life experiences.
We can see this on the first line where the author writes “We were very tired we were very
merry”. This demonstrates the person's ability to ignore fatigue and focus on what makes
them happy. On the third line the St. Vincent Millay writes “It was bare and bright and
smelled like a stable”. The environment's negative descriptions like “bare” and how it
“smelled like a stable” further emphasizes her ability to see past the negatives of their
situation and find happiness.

On the second Stanza on the last line on page 15 it reads “We hailed, “Good morrow
mother!” to a shall covered head and bought a morning paper which neither of us read and
she wept God bless you! For the apples and pears and we gave her all our money but our
subway fares.” This emphasizes how the speaker finds joy in simple pleasures without the
need for extravagant spending. This is because of the speaker's mother’s exuberant
reaction to receiving something as simple and cheap as apples and pears. St. Vincent
Millay also writes “ we gave her all our money but our subway fares”. This further suggests
their deficient economic resources and emphasizes their ability to remain happy in the
face of advertsity

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