When the man arrives at home from the hospital, he begins to remember that “this is his house” (line 15). This line of the poem is written in “Alzheimer’s” by Kelly Cherry. The poem expresses the confusions and difficulties of a man struggles in life with dementia. The man comes home from the hospital and conflicts with his memory loss; the speaker is close to the man and is frustrated with him at the beginning of the poem, but the speaker’s feeling toward the man eventually shifts to sadness. Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease can be painful and heartbreaking, though people need to understand that familiar environments and with family support can help the patients whose minds are gradually changing. Cherry poetically expresses the …show more content…
progressive nature of Alzheimer’s disease using free form style, tone, setting, metaphor and imagery. The structure of the poem has no fixed pattern, which relates the title that conveys the circumstances of the man living with dementia. The poem is composed of 29 lines with no stanzas, rhyme and rhythm patterns. The syntax is complicated with the “subject, verb” order. For example, the subject “Roses and columbine” agrees with the verb “slug” (line 7); however, every word on each line begins with a capital letter even though it is not the subject. The line breaks follow the natural structures of speech because some are long or short; those melodic lines poetically signify the destructive memories of the man that come and go. The punctuation is inconsistent, occurring sometimes in the middle of the sentences, and other times with no commas or periods; some are ending with dashes such as line 12 and 13. With this irregular structure, the poem gratefully illustrates that the man is conflicted by the change in what is normal because of the disease. Moreover, the free-verse styles enhance the theme to convey and shaping the poem the poet desires. Being raised by violinists, Cherry has exposed to music in her life, which influences on her work to express her messages dynamically (Chappell 256). For instance, how she breaks each line in the poem delivers that the man’s mind alternates between bewilderment and recognition, without rhyme or alliteration. In the article “Free-Verse Styles,” a poet, David Biespiel also asserts that “free verse elevates the importance of individual style and distinctiveness over the poet’s more bardic capacity to negotiate received forms” (Biespiel 471). Cherry is practically drawing her subjects what is in the man’s mind that the purpose of her voice reaches the details with her poetic musical style. Through the free form, Cherry implies the opposite moods about the man with the Alzheimer’s disease. The speaker is frustrated with the man because she bitterly describes him as “a crazy old man” (line 1); she feels scorn for the man because of the phrase, “A book he sometimes pretends to read” (line 5). She also harshly states that the man used to love music, but now the sound is just a noise. A few lines later, the speaker is even more impatient, suggesting to the old gentleman that “Other things have become more urgent” (line 23). On the other hand, the frustrated voice shifts to love and sympathy almost at the end of the line. The speaker hopes that he remembers the woman who is “Standing here in the doorway” waiting for him (line 28). This woman is happy to see him and glad him back home because she is “Welcoming him” (line 29). Finally, the contrast of the tone describes that the man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, but also characterizes her hope for the man. Despite the speaker’s satirical, bitter, and imprudent tones, she feels charitable and sympathetic for the man at the end. Certainly, the different moods represent as Cherry herself, relating her true feelings toward the old gentleman.
When she had to see her father, who had Alzheimer’s disease, she grieved that she was unable to help him to stop degeneration. The poetry begins when she looks at him that “He stands at the door,” and her traumatic observation expresses throughout the rest of the poem (line 1). By way of illustration, the observer sees the man’s luggage that holds his “shaving scream, a piggy bank”, a “book” and his “clothes” (lines 4,5,6); the speaker is despairing to feel that his mental state is shaking “Like the suitcase” (line 3). In doing so, the poet allows the reader to sense the love for her father that she brokenhearted to watch her father suffering, so that the poem is honest and impressive. A poet and novelist, Fred Chappell, analyses few poems of Cherry, and declares that “the poet achieved her best ambition, … when the facts of the poet’s life, her basic materials, have been objectified, transformed into terms amenable to treatment by art” (Chappell 21). Many of her painful emotions but experiential values could limn her spiritual work that remains the significant …show more content…
distinctions. As the poem progresses, the poet uses the setting to demonstrate what the man used to be like and how he has changed.
The gentleman used to be a passionate person because he had taken good care of his house and garden. He built “the walkway” in front of his house and planted “the rhododendron” in the backyard (lines 16,17). The man also used to be a normal and happy person when he was young. He was accustomed to driving his car to go to work with “a tweed hat” (line 19); he felt deep affection for “Music” (line 20); he cared very much for his wife who is the “Consequence” in his life (line 25). However, the man doesn’t have the “time for music” nor time for enjoying his day-to-day life (line 20). The music is now just “The peculiar screeching of strings,” and the happiness is just “the luxurious / Fiddling with emotion” (lines 21-22). The most important change is that he doesn’t remember his wife, which is a miserable truth. These vivid images of the man’s regression touch the reader’s sympathetic
feeling. Alzheimer’s disease is the most fearful disease because it is not just terminating memory, but it also destroys life. As stated in the study, “Chapter 3: What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?”, the disease ravages a person’s intellect and memory, and the patient’s personality could possibly change (Petersen, 25). From the disorder, the old man suffers not only physically, but also mentally. For example, he can’t enjoy music nor gardening the house any more, and he also has a hard time to remember his family. Furthermore, the article, “Grouping of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia,” identifies the symptom of dementia—some of symptoms include: dysphoria and anxiety; delusions and hallucinations; irritability and aggression. Those symptoms stay the same or even get worse, whereas most of fears may not come from those experienced people with Alzheimer’s but from those observations; however, the images of Alzheimer’s can help the reader to understand how deeply suffering the man, the woman, and the speaker have. Cherry uses metaphor and imagery to represent the turmoil of the man. Returning home from the hospital, the old guy pauses at the door and thinks for a moment. He struggles with his disease, and his mind tries to fight to remember: “On the brick wall beside him / Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar” (lines 6-7). Then, his affliction attempts to release the agitation and the distress because he feels comfortable in his house like “The sun is shining / … / after rain” (lines 8-9). He strives harder to bring back his memory like “a smithy” irons the “grillwork”; the sun “reifies” (lines 11,10) the house. The metaphors of the sun, the rose and the bushes, and the space symbolizes the man’s attempt to remember, the disease, and his brain. His memory is coming back “while the white wood trim defines solidity in space” because the sun burns the bushes to clear the space (line 14). The man remembers that he is at home and sees himself as young. Cherry draws the destructive effects of the Alzheimer’s disease as the surroundings of the house by using metaphor and imagery. At the same time, the poem encourages the reader to predict about the relationship between the man and the woman. At the last three sentences indicate that the woman is his wife: “This woman is, this old, white-haired woman / Standing here in the doorway, / Welcoming him in” (lines 27-29). The woman watch him staring surrounding the house, and she hopes he remembers “the walkway he built,” “the rhododendron he planted,” and “The car he used to drive” (lines 16,17,18). She also assures him that “he is home” when he begins to realize the landscapes in the house (line 26). This sympathetic image describes that those years they have spent in home would be more than any meaning in life. The memory of the house clarifies that the man feels peaceful, even though the poem doesn’t explain what has happened at the hospital. Staying in the hospital hasn’t made him better, so he packs his things such as a book and his clothes in his suitcase to come home. The man is struggling to keep his memories; however, he begins to remember his house. He recognizes his home, the driveway he has constructed, the flowers he has planted, and the vehicle he is driven; he even remembers when he was young. The man is not able to recall his life perfectly; however, the house reminds him of something important, and he tries to recognize his wife. Whether the man identifies this woman or not, the poem informs that the old woman is “welcoming him in,” which gives the powerful images of how a caring heart can help the loved ones from fear and confusion (line 29). Cherry effortlessly uses the functions of free verse, tone, setting, and figurative language to represent the man who is deteriorating from Alzheimer’s disease. Although the poem doesn’t present any rhyme, rhythm, meter or repetition, the word order achieves a great artistic consequence of the title with its distinctive musical styles. The speaker’s harsh and bitter moods change to compassionate and a caring voice; the different tones make the reader understand how painful and hopeless it is to lose someone he or she loves. The man used to be normal just like any other husbands or fathers who love their families and tried hard to take care of them. Although the poem portrays that the disease is depriving him of his memory of life, it metaphorically draws the positive memories of his house. Because the home gives him a strength and a security, he remembers himself even it is a touch of his life. The house is just a place where people live; however, the memories he has in the house with family are a powerful reminder that a family’s love will remain forever.
Derricotte’s conclusive paragraph begins with, “My mother helps me. She sends me signs: her African violet bloomed for the first time on my windowsill three years after her death, on the first day of her death month…I love my mother now in ways I could not have loved her when she was alive, fierce, terrifying, unpredictable, mad, shame-inducing, self-involved, relentless, and determined by any means necessary” (53). The timing of her love for her mother became insignificant. It wasn’t about when she finally reached the point of loving her mother but the mere fact that she loved her. The utilization of descriptive writing and the emotional implementation in “Beginning Dialogues” are a couple of ways Derricotte enraptures her readers in this short story. Regardless of a painful past or a traumatic childhood she allows herself to see that love truly conquers
As depicted in the poem "Kicking the Habit", The role of the English language in the life of the writer, Lawson Fusao Inada, is heavily inherent. As articulated between the lines 4 and 9, English is not just solely a linguistic device to the author, but heightened to a point where he considers it rather as a paradigm or state of mind. To the author, English is the most commonly trodden path when it comes to being human, it represents conformity, mutual assurance and understanding within the population. Something of which he admits to doing before pulling off the highway road.
Again, by reflecting on Mozart’s arrangements and the everyday sounds of nature, for example, the simile “dry crickets call like birds” (24), it brings the persona back to her first encounter of love, and the love of music that has been lost due to time. Therefore, as Harwood yearns to become one with her own self through the journey of music, she aims to restore this longing sensation with her spirit and bodily mind with music, but this can only be achieved through time and the journey to understand herself (Beston 1975, p.
...es her. The imageries of pink Mustang signifies her social class, while “Road” indicates her location as nowhere within a community. The commodification of her body means it can be touched in ways derogatory to her dignity whether she likes it or not because it is a saleable commodity that doesn’t belong to her. Her silver painted nipples identifies silver coins. Silver coins represent monetary value put on her body. Silver painted nipples also mean the attractive way in which a product is packaged. The poem also depicts the defiance of women against how she has been treated. She identifies man as the one that kisses away himself piece by piece till the last coin is spent. However, she cannot change the reality of her location, and temporal placement.
Sometimes all one needs to create a better condition is putting in a little effort. However, as the poem implies, it is easier to do nothing for staying in a comfort zone is better than achieving a better condition. She complains of the heat in the room because the sun for sunlight pours through the open living-room windows. All she needs to do is get up and close the windows, but she won't do it either. She also reveals the futility of trying to get out of the meaningless routine that people adopt. In an attempt to be proactive, she thinks about the essence of living and is almost convinced that routine is the nature of life. She thinks for a long time and thinks again but ironically, the same routine chores distract her yet again. She goes to buying a hairbrush, parking, and slamming doors. At the end, she gives up on finding the essence of living; she wants to do things like she has always done
In the world of teenagers everything seems to come and pass by so quickly. For instance the beginning of senior year. In Spite of being happy and excited were also generally nervous and anxious to see what our future holds. As senior year comes to an end, It then becomes as temporary as the summer sun but also the boundary of our life before we enter adulthood. Even then our future is still undefined.
When our lives begin, we are innocent and life is beautiful, but as we grow older and time slowly and quickly passes we discover that not everything about life is quite so pleasing. Along with the joys and happiness we experience there is also pain, sadness and loneliness. Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" both tell us about older men who are experiencing these dreadful emotions.
In The Pink Box, there are three major sections, each of which most likely represents a specific time in her life. The first section, “The Wilderness,” you find many intricate poems about what it was like growing up in a very diverse world, with her family upbringing, and even the use of drugs in her home. We see a big example of this in her poem “Needles,” a harsh poem about what some she had to live with growing up. The last line of this specific poem “The way my father grunted with pleasure as the dangled against his arm like a dancer with tiny shoes
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
...ome the dream of attainment slowly became a nightmare. His house has been abandoned, it is empty and dark, the entryway or doors are locked. The sign of age, rust comes off in his hands. His body is cold, and he has deteriorated physically & emotionally. He is weathered just like his house and life. He is damaged poor, homeless, and the abandoned one.
Louise, the unfortunate spouse of Brently Mallard dies of a supposed “heart disease.” Upon the doctor’s diagnosis, it is the death of a “joy that kills.” This is a paradox of happiness resulting into a dreadful ending. Nevertheless, in reality it is actually the other way around. Of which, is the irony of Louise dying due to her suffering from a massive amount of depression knowing her husband is not dead, but alive. This is the prime example to show how women are unfairly treated. If it is logical enough for a wife to be this jovial about her husband’s mournful state of life then she must be in a marriage of never-ending nightmares. This shows how terribly the wife is being exploited due her gender in the relationship. As a result of a female being treated or perceived in such a manner, she will often times lose herself like the “girl
After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins “to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart” (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard’s mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has “grown unable to write” (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard’s inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees “a gray –haired woman” that showed “sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude” (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: “his throat [aches] with remorse and pity” (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his “excited and pleasurable life” that he has “neglected her” (par. 92). Another indication of Howard’s neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
It is apparent in Parker’s poems that she has had plenty of damaging experiences, and she has turned these into her life’s
To begin, the episodic shifts in scenes in this ballad enhance the speaker’s emotional confusion. Almost every stanza has its own time and place in the speaker’s memory, which sparks different emotions with each. For example, the first stanza is her memory of herself at her house and it has a mocking, carefree mood. She says, “I cut my lungs with laughter,” meaning that...