Images of pain and suffering abound in ‘Any Woman’ and point to the hardships and burdens that a mother has to bear for her children. But her value is often not understood until she is lost. A house is a house only when there is a mother. The poem ends with the mother’s prayer to Jesus to keep her alive till the children grow.Īnalysis of the poem: All the metaphorical images in the poem revolve around the central metaphor of a house and underline the proposition that a house and a mother are synonymous. She walls out the wind and snow and protects them from all danger. Here she is also compared to a mother bird who builds the nest, feeds the nestlings and makes their bed with her own soft feathers. She decorates the house, gets the table ready for dinner, spins the curtains, and makes their bed. Without the knot of love many a child could go a-wandering and get lost.įinally, the poet describes the countless chores a mother performs every day in the house which may make her children wonder whether she has a thousand hands. She holds the children together in the sacred ring of love. The mother is also like a twist or a knot in the ring that holds the different strands together. Without her the house would be cold and lifeless and the children would not thrive. Like the sun which warms the earth, she is the fire upon the hearth.
She is the keystone of the arch without which the roof and wall would fall and the house would be ruined.Ī mother is not only the foundation of the household she is the ‘vita lux et amor’ – the life, light, and love that fill a house. The mother says that she is the pillars of the house. Summary of Any Woman: The poem opens by introducing the central metaphor of the house. The poem also reflects Tynan’s view of motherhood as the supreme gift for the sake of which she could accept gallantly even a lessening of her literary position. It tells us about the cares, worries and burdens that mothers bear everywhere to hold their homes in order. Chapter 2 Any Woman (Poem) Katharine Tynan’s ‘Any Woman’ is a deeply touching poem that celebrates the self-effacing love of mothers.
0 kommentar(er)
