Nichols’ poem is about her mother, and how she influenced her life in a positive way. It helps her to get through her death. Although it is not clear whether or not Nichols’ mother is dead or alive – it is clear she is gone in some way. The language is in the past tense; ‘You were…’
She implies that without her mother – she cannot live. The thought provoking metaphor; ‘You were water to me’ justifies this. Water is an element of life – without water, no one can survive. ‘Deep and bold and fathoming’. This quote shows how powerful the effect her mother left on her truly is. Her we can link Auden’s use of strong metaphors with Nichols’. Her mother is clearly inspirational to her. This is personally the most powerful image in the poem. When I read this first stanza, it creates intense imagery of a huge waterfall or fountain, flowing with so much power. I also associate the great oceans with this stanza, with the water, representing love, being amazingly deep. Her mother brought her wisdom; ‘You were moon’s eye to me, pull and grained and mantling’. Her mother’s love was like a light, shining through darkness. When it is dark outside, the only thing we mainly see is the moon. This gives us our bearings. Nichols looked up to her mother for everything. It is like Nichols was earth and her mother was the moon, a light in the dark, connected with gravity, watching over her.
Words like ‘sunrise’ highlight the intensity of Nichols’ love for her mother. The sun symbolises warmth, radiating love and light, energy and power, unlike Auden – where his sun has no power.
Nichols, like Auden, has chosen her vocabulary wisely, making it extremely effective. Just from one word, e.g. ‘sunrise’, we can immediately conjure up many words and images linked with it. It puts an intensely clear image in our mind. By seeing these images, my understanding of the poems becomes clearer.
Nichols compares her mother to images that are distinctive and colourful. Images that stand out. This implies that her mother’s love was bold and unique. It was not an ordinary love – it was rare and individual. The poem ends with a line, which effects the whole poem, and stands out on its own. The poem can be justified with these few words;
‘Go to your wide futures, you said.’
This line is the final philosophy, her mother left with her. ‘Wide’ reminds me of the phrase ‘Life is short but wide’. This statement and the one Nichols’ mother left her, both advise to make the most out of your life – for you only live once. Her love for her mother is constant and will always be there. Eternally.
Nichols has written a powerful, poignant and inspirational poem. It describes her love and admiration for her mother and what her mother meant to her. Although the poem is quite short, simple and written in free verse, it also has a clear and meaningful message. The piece of advice from her mother really stands out and has the greatest effect on the poem itself. The overall message is that her mother was unique and left her with the philosophy that she had to make the most out of the life she has been given. Whatever she did and whatever she said, was amazingly respected by Nichols. The tone of the poem is reflective. Nichols is remembering what her mother did for her. The repetition of ‘replenishing, replenishing’, to me symbolises that because she remembers her mother in a positive and inspiring way, she is in a state of tranquillity. Her words are healing. The memory is also healing – it helps her to go on. She has come to terms with the loss of her mother and she can reflect positively on the effect her mother left on her. This poem is about the positive influences that loved ones can leave with you when they pass on. This can be compared to ‘Long Distance’ by Tony Harrison, in the sense that they have both lost their mothers. However, it can be in contrast to ‘Praise song for my mother’ because it is about how the death of a loved one can lead to naivety and suffering. When a loved one passes away, we are all at first in a complete state of disbelief. We initially refuse to believe the truth. When we finally realise that they are gone, we grieve and are left in a state of emotional pain and suffering.
‘Long Distance’, is about how Harrison’s father copes with the death of his wife. The title is ambiguous. It can be linked with the idea of a ‘long distance telephone call’ or someone being far away.
‘Though my mother was already two years dead,
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas.’
We immediately get the idea of the main theme of the poem; denial and hope. His father is still in a state of shock and will not accept that she is dead. He obviously still has the hope that she will return home, one-day. Most people go through this phase so it is not strange to us. Although we know in our hearts that they are gone, we long to see their face again. Harrison is telling the story of his dad. The last stanza gives us a psychological insight into how Tony Harrison feels towards the way his father acts upon the death of his mother. This is the irony behind the poem. Harrison is effectively saying that his father is acting in a way, which can be regarded as strange, yet he is fully aware of the fact that deep inside he is feeling exactly the same way.
Although Harrison finds that the way his father is acting is strange, inside he still is hoping he will be able to make contact;
‘In my new black leather phone book there’s your name
and the disconnected number I still call’
The word ‘disconnected’ is ambiguous- in a sense that it reflects how disconnected Harrison and his father have become. This stanza particularly stands out to me because Harrison becomes more reflective and philosophical. He gives us an insight into what he thinks about the possibility of an after life:
‘I believe that life ends with death, and that is all’
This quote is a statement. It is what he believes in. The irony behind the stanza is that he ends with the line about him calling the disconnected number. The irony is the he finds his father strange for wanting to believe she is still here, but deep down inside, he still believes it too. The stanza works effectively at the end because he drops in his ‘secret’. His longing for his mother is obviously a feeling he has been trying to conceal for some time. Yet, he wants the reader to know that he still cares.
The third stanza builds up to the last;
‘…very soon he’d hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief’
The word ‘scrape’ stands out to me because it gives the effect of the longing his dad has to ‘end his grief’. This implies that until he sees her again, he will always be isolated in this state of grief.
‘He knew she’d just popped out to get the tea.’
Here, the word ‘knew’ is in Italics. This is emphasising the word, making it a definite statement, highlighting his father’s faith. His father knew that she went out one day – never to return. This, he cannot accept. Colloquialism is also used here with the word ‘popped’. To me, this makes the poem more personal from Harrison to the reader.
All three of these poems deal with love and loss. The love in the poems is different. Two are for mothers and on is for the loss of a partner. All the poets have lost their loved ones through death. Here we realise that all the poets have different views of death and how they accept it. Nichols accepts her mother is gone. However, she reflects on all the positive aspects she had on her. Auden accepts that his partner is dead but fells he cannot go on without him. Finally, Harrison is concealing the way he feels about the death of his mother.
Finally, ‘Prescience’ by Maya Angelou, is about the loss of love. It is about a person who is regretting some actions that they have taken in life, resulting in a hurtful situation. Maya Angelou starts the stanza using ‘Had I known…’. This states that if the person had had the fore knowledge that there would be a catastrophe or a disaster, they would not have engaged themselves into this relationship. Maya Angelou ahs titled the poem ‘Prescience’. This means knowing something before it occurs. We can also associate the word ‘Pre-seeing’, meaning having a sense of what will happen. From the title we immediately know that Angelou wishes she knew something was going to happen and wishes she knew before, so she could stop it;
‘Had I known that the heart would leak,
Slobbering it’s sap, with a vulgar
Visibility, into the dressed-up
Dining rooms of strangers.’
Here, you can see that Angelou has used a variety of techniques to convey this message, in the most effective manner to capture the reader. Many powerful images are used in this stanza. The leaking of the heart symbolises lamentation of the poem. The heart is personified to repeat the misery Angelou. ‘Dressed-up dining rooms’, in the same way, are used to represent sap of the person. The strangers in the dining are not strangers, but are seen as strangers. ‘Slobbering it’s sap’, shows the crying is in poor taste, and the person is disgraceful to show his emotions. The alliteration creates a sense of a soft and sad atmosphere to support the message and that pain of the poet.
The first five stanzas start with the repeated line; ‘Had I known’. I think that this is the longing she wants to have known things would work out this way. Throughout the poem, she states that she has no control over herself. She could not live her life properly. The stanza that particularly stands out to me in this poem is the fourth;
‘Had I known that loneliness could
Keloid, winding itself around the
Body in a ominous and beautiful
Cicatrix.’
Here, you can almost visualise her pain and suffering. This stanza conjures up the most powerful image of loneliness ‘suffocating’ her. The keloid is personifying loneliness and describing the way it is affecting her. The image of the ‘beautiful cicatrix’ is the most ironic. Although loneliness is keloiding, it is becoming the most beautiful shape. The shape is tangible and visual. You can see the pain.
Throughout the poem, the tone is regretful. It is quite sad and her misery comes through. Yet, as you get to the last stanza, it becomes more forgiving and understanding. It is on the final stanza, that she changes the4 first word to ‘But’. This makes the last stanza most effective in getting across her true feelings. Although her love has broken her heart so much, that it is practically visible; if she could start from the beginning, she would. However, she states that she would have distanced herself and tried to have cared less.
‘But from a distance… wanted more and cared less’
It is because of all these powerful images throughout the poem, that it comes across visual and graphic. It is at this last stanza, that we get her true inner feeling. Out of all the poems, Angelou and Nichols, conjure up the most interesting and vivid images in my mind. Angelou creates the most interestingly and intense ‘negative’ images; the heart ‘leaking’ and ‘dismantling’. In a way, it is quite disturbing. While Nichols creates ‘positive’ images of life; ‘water’ and ‘the sun’.
I think that the meaning of the poem is not to hide your true feelings. Although Angelou is so distraught, she still admits to loving her partner.
This is the one message that comes across most strongly in all four poems: if you have love for someone – do not hide it. Tell the world that you care about that person. Love is a feeling or emotions that we express the most positively. If someone you love dies or the love itself dies, most people are distraught. Love is one emotion that most people rarely conceal. All of these poems have taught me to let people know how I feel about them and value the time I spend with them. One day, they will eventually pass away and I will never get to tell them how I truly feel.