For Wendy Lewis

Junaid Ali

Professor Castella

English 125

10-22-18

Poetry Essay

Option 2

The poem Daystar by Rita Dove (1986) portrays the typical life of a mother and a wife in a home and how a mother’s responsibility has changed compared to when she was single. The poem typically portrays the activities of a mother who is a housewife and doesn’t have an office job, such that all her day and night hours are spent at home. Therefore, they are responsible for every activity that runs in the home and for things to run smoothly, she has to be at the centre of it all. Her children and her husband depend on her to run things smoothly. Therefore, a mother scarifies a lot in order to accomplish all these chores and take care of her family to her best.

In real life, mothers usually work hard to ensure that their homes are at their best state. This will include working tirelessly and selflessly to achieve good results. That is why they have minimal self-time. This is also brought out in this poem where the poet states that “she wanted a little room for thinking, but she saw diapers steaming on the line…”. This means that the mother (portrayed in the poem) had several issues to attend to such that her thinking time was limited and given the work that she had done.

This even includes putting babies to sleep, a task that is tiresome in its nature. The poet portrays the mother in this poem as a tired person that required rest after putting the babies to sleep “…she lugged a chair behind the garage to sit out the children’s nap…”. Being a task that requires one to be extra gentle and patient, putting a baby to sleep often leaves one very tired. For instance, rocking a baby to sleep requires patience and any slight mistake often leads to the baby waking up. If this happens, one has to start the process all over again. Therefore, considering that mothers have to do other house chores, putting a baby to sleep often takes more of their time and energy.

In portraying the resting state of the mother in the poem, the poet also brings out how boring the lives of mothers can be. In the verse “…sometimes there were things to watch…”, it shows that most of the times, mothers don’t enjoy their resting periods. They just rest because it is necessary for them to do so, unlike other people who enjoy various leisure activities during their resting time. The poet further goes ahead to explain that there are days when the mother would just stare in space until there was nothing else left to stare at. At this point, dozing off after resting wouldn’t be that effective since there was nothing meaningful that was captured by the mind during resting “…she stared until she was assured…she’d only see her own vivid blood…”.

The poet further brings out how a mother’s resting time is often interrupted by her innocent children. In the verse “…she had an hour, at best, before Liza appeared…”, it is clear that mothers don’t even get an hour‘s rest before their kids appear looking for them. This is because the absence of their mothers always tells them that the mother is doing something secretly. That is why the poet further states that “…and just what was mother doing out back with the field mice…” while describing the explorative nature of Liz who descends the stares and looks for her mother to find out what she is actually up to. This is also true in real life because, in a home, children often want to be with their mothers. Some don’t even understand that their mothers are too tired and, therefore, require some time off to rest. That is why if a mother stays in a secret place to rest, her child will think that she is hiding from them or that she is planning some surprise for them. The little ones even try to find out where the other is and what exactly she is doing. Once found, the resting period of the mother is interrupted.

Often, mothers usually direct most of their time to the care of other family members. That is why even at night, they are always alert and any disturbance will awaken them. That is why the poet states that “…later that night when Thomas rolled over and lurched into her, she would open her eyes…”. This shows that their husbands get a peaceful sleep while the wife is often alert given the amount of thinking and household chores that she has to perform. Once awake in the middle of the night, the mother still has got a lot of thinking to do. That is why sleeping doesn’t come back to her easily, for she spends hours thinking about her life.

The poet illustrates this in the last stanza where he states that “…she would open her eyes and think of the place that was hers for an hour, where she was nothing, pure nothing, in the middle of the day”. In this verse, the middle of the day refers to the one hour that the mother portrayed in the poem took to rest. It is interesting to note that despite all these responsibilities of her home, her children, and her husband, a mother will always feel lonely without them. This means that children and a husband are always important to the life of a mother. That is why mothers do everything to ensure that these people receive the best of her services and her love. This even means sacrificing their time and happiness. A day or even hours without them makes the mother feel lonely and worthless because her husband and children are very important to her.

Since the poem was written in 1986, its significance was to bring out the role of mothers that existed during that period. Through this poem, the present generations can understand how mothers of those days behaved and what their daily activities were. For instance, through reading or reciting the poem, one understands that a mother in the year 1986 was mostly tasked with running the homes and taking care of the children. This is different today given the fact that most mothers of today are office-working individuals, and this pushes them to employ housekeepers who take care of their children while they work.

This poem is also significant as it educates people on the roles and importance of mothers in the society. For instance, the poet portraying the mother in the poem as someone who works hard and is depended on by her children shows that mothers are important in the upbringing of children. Therefore, future mothers should be prepared to multitask and take care of their children to ensure a peaceful home exists. This will even mean sacrificing most of one’s time to ensure that chores are done properly and the family is happy. Therefore, mothers should be respected as they play a significant role in the family.

The title of the poem (Daystar) in itself portrays a mother as a very important and unique creature. Daystar would literally mean something such as a star that lightens up the day. Similarly, a mother lightens up/illuminates the days of other people including her children and her husband. This includes having them work perfectly on chores to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the home. This, in the real sense, portrays a mother as the backbone of the home. However, without a home, husband and her children around, a mother always feels empty. Therefore, the poem teaches people that mothers enjoy the company of their children and husband despite the fact that each of these people has matters that must be attended to. These matters are often considered as work to the mother.

In conclusion, the poem Daystar is about the daily activities that occupy the life of a mother who existed in the year 1986. These activities include carrying out various household chores, putting babies to sleep, taking care of their young ones and the husband of the house. In carrying out all these chores, the mother always has minimal time to herself such that even their resting periods are interrupted. Sometimes, while resting, it becomes so boring that mothers have nothing to stare at in order to refresh themselves. In fact, they have to hide from the children at times in order to have some rest. Despite all these, her children and her husband are always a joy to a mother. Without them, mothers feel lonely. This poem brings out the significance of mothers in homes, especially in 1986. It is, therefore, educative and makes it interesting to learn about the daily experiences of mothers in a home.

Works Cited

Dove, Rita. Collected Poems: 1974--2004. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. Print