A.
1. Stevenson, Anne. "The Victory." An Introduction to Poetry. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 92 http://www.anne-stevenson.co.uk/poetry.htm
2. Anne Stevenson's "The Victory" was written in 1974. The poem is about a mother who is having thoughts of regret towards her son. She does not say nice, kind words about him. Instead, she refers to him as mean and abusive. It seems as though the son is not older yet. He is still a baby and is consitently crying like all babies do. I presume the the mother did not intend to have this child. Maybe that is why she asks, "Why do I have to love you?" ("The Victory" 15)
3. This text was something different than everything I have ever read which made it interesting. My view of babies entering the world from their mother's bodies is something beautiful. The mother in this poem is not referring to her son as a beautiful creation. It intrigued me to read this because I have never heard of someone describe their child like this.
4. I chose to compare this poem to "First Poem for You" by Kim Addonizio. This poem can be found on page 204. Although the speaker in Addonizio's poem is not referring to a child, he/she is talking about a close person to their heart. The mother in Stevenson's poem is afraid of making a commitment to her child, just like the speaker in Addonizio's poem is afraid of making a commitment to his/her lover. The tone of both poems is dark. The mother in Stevenson's poem speaks as though her child is actually stabbing her with a knife. The speaker in Addonizio's poem speaks of love as a frightening thing, referring to it with words such as lightening, a dragon, and a serpent.
1 comment:
BA #4
After reading the poem, my initial impression was that, as stated in the post, the mother who narrates the poem has hostile and negative feelings towards her son. This also struck me as unusual because one never really hears a mother talk about her child so. In further thought, I do not think that this poem is meant to be taken literally. Obviously, children are more than a handful to parents, and a majority of the work and responsibility more often than not falls on the mother. It is natural for a parent to unconditionally love their children, but with so much of a burden, it would make sense for a mother to wish she did not overlook so much stress and strain because of her natural affinity for her child. Perhaps this poem is a thought of hers in an effort to figure out how she can love such a "tiny antagonist" after she goes through so much for him.
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