Friday, February 26, 2016

In Maurice Kenny's "Legacy", what is the poem about?

The poem asserts its main article of faith—that the
speaker is united with nature and identical with it—through paradoxical and apparently
contradictory statements. Thus the speaker states that he is of course himself, but that
his face is the color of April rain, which would, in fact, make him literally invisible.
The idea here seems to be that he is part of an identity that is greater than he himself
can claim. So also is the idea that his limbs are his own, but they are also the same as
the limbs of birch trees. More notably, in lines 22–34 the speaker emphasizes that his
purpose in life is identical with the purpose of the meadow and the sky. Paradoxically,
they provide purpose for his daily existence, for they have given him birth. Also, it is
to the meadow and sky that he will eventually return.

No comments:

Post a Comment

How is Anne's goal of wanting "to go on living even after my death" fulfilled in Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl?I didn't get how it was...

I think you are right! I don't believe that many of the Jews who were herded into the concentration camps actually understood the eno...