My Mother’s Pillow
My mother sleeps with the Bible open on her pillow;
she reads herself to sleep and wakens startled.
She listens for her heart: each breath is shallow.
For years her hands were quick with thread and needle.
She used to sew all night when we were little;
now she sleeps with the Bible on her pillow
and believes that Jesus understands her sorrow:
her children grown, their father frail and brittle;
she stitches in her heart, her breathing shallow.
Once she even slept fast, rushed tomorrow,
mornings full of sunlight, sons and daughters.
Now she sleeps alone with the Bible on her pillow
and wakes alone and feels the house is hollow,
though my father in his blue room stirs and mutters;
she listens to him breathe: each breath is shallow.
I flutter down the darkened hallway, shadow
between their dreams, my mother and my father,
asleep in rooms I pass, my breathing shallow.
I leave the Bible open on her pillow.
Devices:
*enjambment - continuation of a sentence from one line to the next.
*cacophany - harsh, discordant sound words.
The villanelle poems use two repeating phrases at the end of alternating stanzas (ex. Bible under her pillow, breathing shallow), and uses both of these lines at the end of the poem in the last two lines.
The imagery is bleak and dark: "darkened hallway", "wakes alone and feels the house is hollow", showing how the mother has grown and lost much of her liveliness and happiness. As she has gotten older, she has slowed down, finding her life much less rewarding. Her children are old and gone now, her husband has grown old and the only thing that she still feels she has that has not changed is the Bible; reading it is the only thing that can get her to sleep every night after everything has changed. Aside from the Bible, which is the only thing she still relates to, she feels completely alone.
I feel like there's a very strong reference to death here, especially seeing as the two most accentuated phrases as "bible open on her pillow" and "breath is shallow" (or "breathing shallow"). The mother and "brittle" father were once lively with young children, but like Anna has said, the children are now grown, and the parents are left alone. She notices the frailty of her husband and then "listens for her heart," almost implying that at this point she is just waiting for her heart to finally stop beating. She knows "Jesus understands her sorrow" and so she awaits death, perhaps longingly.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the last stanza is a bit confusing. It seems as though one of the children is present as some sort of ghostly spirit (guardian angel?), flying through "the darkened hallway." It actually seems to me as if this child is dead, which would also explain the mother's unhappiness and fragility. Or perhaps the child is only there figuratively, visualizing his/her parents as they sleep. I really can't tell... anyone?
I almost think the child is dead? Fluttering throughout their dreams. I agree with Sarah's comment that there is a strong feeling of death in the poem, along with a very melancholy mood. The strong references to the bible, to me, refer to someone's last confession, such as when a person is on their death bed they ask for a priest. Also, "breath is shallow" seems strange. Most people take calm, deep breaths in their sleep... shallow breaths imply nerves or being out of breath. Is he sick along with "frail?" or mourning the loss of a child?
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing as Mahan reading it, I think the child is dead. "my father in his blue room stirs and mutters", the blue room reminds me of a childs bedroom, perhaps a vacant one in which I child used to inhabit. The shallowness of the mothers breath could be because she cannot enter the childs room, she is unable to comprehend her loss yet. I also feel as though the shallow breath is of emptiness, with the loss of child one is never whole again. All three; the mother, father, and dead child, are all incomplete now that they are seperated. It also makes sense with the bible, as though its the gaurdian angel bringing "blessings" and the "bible" down from "god". This could be COMPLETELY wrong, anyone else have any takes on the child?
ReplyDeleteI am slightly confused about the significance of the bible. I agree that is the one thing that does not change as Anna said. However I think it might symbolize the mother because that is the one thing she did and that is all that remains of her mom is the memory of the bible. Also in the bible there are the three significant figures: the father, son, and holy spirit. In this poem there are three significant characters: the mom, father, and child. I agree with Chelsea about the child being dead, but I think the parents are alive. But because of the grief of the child's death the two parents are separated from each other. What does everyone else think?
ReplyDeleteThere is apparent religious theme in the poem, and I think all four comment above support this. I agree as most of you did that the child is dead, i think there is ample textual evidence to support this. Caroline's take on the bible and the comparison of the "father, son and holy spirit" to the "mom, father, and child" was interesting in that i would brings a different aspect into the analysis of the poem.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the religious qualities of the poem, I agree with everyone above that overall tone was melancholy and dreary. The diction and repeating syntax of the poem bring this tone to life. In addition to the diction and syntax, the poem, even though its in present tense kind of has a past tense quality about it. Almost saying that the past was better and now "she wakes alone and feels the house is hollow" and now "now she sleeps alone with the bible on her pillow" and now "her breathing is shallow" whereas in the past she was better.