Analyzing Marie Howe's Poem 'Watching Television'

Watching Television Analysis
Everyone feels alone at times, but the way we cope with it internally, is different. In Marie Howe’s poem Watching Television she starts by telling us about a mother spider who has a hundred babies, who were learning how to spin their webs. But, the poem switches and she starts talking about herself and how she imagines herself places where she is isolated. She explains that she is arguing with the man she loves, she hasn’t heard from him and she stands and waits for him to show up, but he never does. She finishes the poem with saying “Anything I’ve ever tried to keep by force I’ve lost,” which is a harsh ending.
Marie Howe’s feelings are expressed after arguing with a man who plays a significant role in her

life. She tells us “I have argued bitterly with the man I love, and for two days/ we haven’t spoken.” From this, it shows the reader that the speaker and this man she is talking about have a special connection. Also, her use of a line break between “… and for two days/ we haven’t spoken,” emphasizes that they have not spoken, and gives the understanding that two days without talking is a big deal. She says, “I keep finding myself standing by the front windows looking out at the street,” Howe is hoping that this man she is talking about, will show up. This also provides a sense of being alone and patiently waiting for someone or something to turn around. “And the walk that leads to the front door of this building, / white, unbroken by footprints,” this quote from Marie Howe’s article plays a significant role in understanding that she is watching for the man to come back, and the fact that the ground, covered by snow, shows no sign of him coming back. Also, she refers to the building she is in as “this building”, she doesn’t specify whose building it is, whether it is hers, the mans, or theirs together. This could be telling us that she is unsure at this point who’s building it is, since the man she loves hasn’t returned.
Marie Howe starts off her poem with a story about a perfect scenario of a mother spider and her babies, and for some reason the hundreds of spiders can do something right but she cannot. Howe feels that no matter what, she can never do something right. There are hundreds of baby spiders but there is only one of her. She doesn’t talk about anyone else besides the man that she loves, who abandoned her. She compares the story of the spiders and herself to create a greater feeling of being alone. She says, “And in what seemed like the next minute, / spinning their own webs quickly and crazily, / bumping into each other’s and breaking them, then mending / and moving over, and soon they got it right,” the baby spiders try over and over again to spin their own webs and then after several tries, they finally do it right. This ties in with a quote about herself, “I have argued bitterly with the man I love, and for two days/ we haven’t spoken.” They haven’t spoke for two days so she obviously isn’t doing something right. If all of the hundreds of spiders can get it right, why can’t she? Her point of using the story of the spider first, makes you think that this is going to be a positive poem, but it’s the opposite, the loneliness only hits harder in the rest of the poem.
Marie Howe’s poem Watching Television gives the reader a sense of loneliness.

Her poem switches from positive to negative. She starts the poem with the story of the mother spider and her babies which has a happy ending, but then she goes into talking about herself. In Marie Howe’s essay, she says “…a white frame house, and rising, / and I thought of a room it was shining in, right then, / a room I might live in and can’t imagine yet.” From this quote we notice that she is imagining a house that she could possibly live in one day. Maybe it’s the man’s house and she is thinking one day she could live there with him, but not yet. She says “And this morning, I thought of a place on the ocean where no one is, / no boat, no fish jumping, / just sunlight gleaming on the water, humps of water that hardly break.” This quote provides a sense of loneliness, to think of a place on the beach that is deserted, there are no other people, little noise, and there is nothing there to keep you company. Then she says, “We argued about one thing, but really it was another,” this shows that there was a lack of communication between the two, which could cause Howe to feel like she was alone. Part of one of her quotes, “unbroken by footprints”, created a huge sense of loneliness. She is all alone, awaiting the return of the man she loves, and he hasn’t yet shown up. The fact that the path leading to the front door hasn’t been walked on in two days, would make the reader wonder if anyone besides the man would normally visit her, or if Howe has even left her home in those two days. The last line in her poem is “Anything I’ve tried to keep by force I’ve lost”, and she uses this to provide a sense of emptiness. The movement of her poem from positive to negative is what helps create that feeling of being

alone.