THE LOST WOMAN
By Patricia Beer
My mother went with no more warning Enjambment- emphasizes
Contrast- “Bright” and the sudden nature of the
“June” are associated with
than a bright voice and a bad pain.
news
spring and happiness. Home from school on a June morning
And where the brook goes under the lane Metaphor- “Brook” as a
Symbolism- “Shocking white” symbol for lifeblood and
I saw the back of a shocking white
sudden bright and cold, vitality
emotionless Ambulance drawing away from the gate.
She never returned and I never saw
Symbolism- “Ivy” parasitic Her buried. So a romance began.
and poisonous, sucking the
life out of her. The ivy-mother turned into a tree Symbolism- “Trees”
associated with warmth
That still hops away like a rainbow down
and growth
The avenue as I approach.
My tendrils are the ones that clutch.
Symbolism- “Tendrils” imply
new growth and support.
Adds to the idealized mother
Feminism- Idea of a I made a life for her over the years.
Universal Lost woman,
especially in the era Frustrated no more by a dull marriage
She ran a canteen through several wars. Imagery- Shows the
resilience of the mother,
The wit of a cliche-ridden village and how capable she was.
She met her match at an extra-mural
Class and the OU summer school.
Tone- Melancholic yet
idealized, unfulfilled desires
Many a hero in his time
of the women. And every poet has acquired
A lost woman to haunt the home,
To be compensated and desired,
Who will not alter, who will not grow,
Symbolism- Neglected and A corpse they need never get to know.
forgotten true women, who Enjambment- Hard strong
is unrecognized. end, with a strong plosive.
Against her mother.
Idealization- Societal She is nearly always benign. Her habit
interpretation of the
woman. Is not to stride at dead of night.
Soft and crepuscular in rabbit- Symbolism- more negative
connotation of rabbit, A
Light she comes out. Hear how they hate creepy trickster.
Themselves for losing her as they did.
Her country is bland and she does not chide.
Volta- Switch in view of the
But my lost woman evermore snaps
mother from kind and
supportive to cruel. From somewhere else: You did not love me.
I sacrificed too much perhaps,
I showed you the way to rise above me
And you took it. You are the ghost
Symbolism- Eerie and blind, With the bat-voice, my dear. I am not lost.
a dark warning for the Enjambment- Hard strong
daughter end, with a strong plosive.
Against her mother.
