Rita Dove talks about how she is overwhelmed with her children in the poem "Daystar". She "wanted a little room for htinking" so she goes out into the backyard. But she only accomplishes peace for about an hour. The tone of this poem really contributes to the situation of this poem.
Her views on motherhood are focused on the fact that it is very tiresome and that she really needs a break every now and again. She needs her own space, so she builds a "palace," which is really the mother mentally escaping from the responsibilities because palaces are things of fantasy. She is creating something to hide in, or to just take herself out of the role of a mother for a while. When she was hoping that she would only see her "vivid blood," I believe that is her talking about peace and quiet, and what she is hoping for, but it is soon broken by her kids again.
However, I think it is important to note that I don't think she doesn't like her kids, she just feels overwhelmed sometimes and she just wants to escape.
1 comment:
Hi! My name is Alison, and for my english class, we are all posting blogs about our favorite poets, and I chose Rita Dove. I also analyzing her poem "DayStar", and I pretty much agree with what you said here. The mother seems trapped and exhausted by a family that doesn't really contain "attained love" and she no longer feels a love for her husband Thomas (did you know that this poem was about Dove's Grandmother and Grandfather??). On the other hand, I think the mother DOES still feel this maternal love towards the children, and required love towards her husband to the point where she's ashamed to want to escape, and thats why she can only go out to the back yard and dream. She is both not strong enough to leave AND she is strong enough to stay.
check out MY blog at http://alisonegr5.edublogs.org/ !! We can discuss our favorite poems of Dove's :)
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