Daystar Poem Analysis

As a young mother that experienced post-partum depression, the poem “Daystar” by Rita Dove and “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan were easy to relate to. Each of the poems successfully represented the positives and negatives of being a mother. Poetry was never exactly my thing; I hated trying to decipher the symbols in poems and never quite understood why it was okay to use incomplete sentences. Dove and Pastan each wrote about their experiences as mothers but stood on completely opposite sides on the emotional spectrum, ironically, I couldn’t agree more with both of them.

I was sixteen years old when I got pregnant. As soon as I saw the plus sign on the pregnancy test, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to experience being a real teenager.

Telling my family that I was pregnant was one of the scariest moments of my life. Even worse was being rushed into the hospital and being handed a life that I’ve created. After reading through the collections of poetry, I was struck by term “Daystar”, which means a brand new day would start, another day would end. He became my light in the darkness. The dichotomy of loving and fearing my sweet baby sums up my experience as a teen mother suffering post-partum depression.

In “Daystar” by Rita Dove, she describes herself trying to escape the never ending chores of motherhood by sitting alone outside. While she is taking time out for herself, she is too busy looking at the diapers and toys that need to be cleaned up to enjoy herself. I see my morning cup of coffee as being similar to her brief moment of silence. I feel like I need that one small moment to myself to continue on with my day. I need it to retain myself from collapsing. As I sit on the lanai with my fuzzy pajama pants and a warm cup of coffee, I can’t help but to think of the crackers on the floor that needs to be vacuumed or the dishes that need to be washed. Charu Minocha, a writer who tackled the issue of post-partum depression stated, “Finding time