essay

August 13, 2017

Essay 2 Final

Ruth Stone was a Virginia poet, author and teacher in the 19th century and the poet laureate since 2002 when she earned the National Book Award for Poetry till her death in 2011. She was born and grew up in rural Virginia and raised three daughters alone after her husband, a professor who named Walter Stone committed suicide in 1959. She called her poems are written for dead people which are full of love. Ruth Stone said when she lived in village, she loved to walk outside and observed the nature. When she had ideas flashed in her mind, she knew that she had only one thing to da at that point. In her words, “run like hell” to the house as she would be chased by this poem. As a nature worshipper and a great mother, her poems will write about deep love for the dead people which have careful observation. These are tremendously lucid and humble--- not to say ordinary or spare--- poems about aging and loss, but also about tenacity and determined hopefulness.

This essay will analyze the poem Second-Hand Coat from the aspects of writing background, emotion and figurative languages.

Second-Hand Coat was written in 1991 and believed to be one of the most beautiful poems at that time. When I first read this poem, I didn’t understand the true emotion of this poem. I thought that the poem is talking about a poor woman who is a matron dreams to have better life like the woman in her dream because of some sentences describe the woman in the dream like “she wore nice cotton gloves” and “ate at the Holiday Inn”. In addition, the author says that: “when I wake up in the morning that I have turned into her.” which makes me think the author wants to have a same life like the woman in her dream, but I still cannot figure out the meaning of the questions at the end of the poem. However, after I read this poem several times, my perspective changed. I think that the poem is about cherishing the memories of an important person in author’s life. Obviously, the theme of this poem is cherish the memories of a loved one who was dead. The changes of the tenses of the verb are very important to help us to distinguish the and reality. For example, in the first line, “feel” is in present tense, and in the second line, the verb change to past tense which means the author is recalling the past. And in the sixth line, the verb is in present tense again which shows the poem is about reality. In addition, the sentences like “ she hangs in the hall downstairs” and “a shadow with pulled threads” express a deep memory to the important woman.

Apart from the changes of the tenses of the verb, the poem also uses pause and figurative languages to further show the deep memories of the important woman. First, there is a pause in the first line of the poem, “I feel” expresses the emotion of the pain of losing a loved one faultlessly. I can feel the author’s hesitation and sadness from this pause. Secondly, the uses of figurative languages are also important to help me understand this poem. Take the imagery for example, the description of the female figure like “wore nice cotton gloves”, “ate at the Holiday Inn” and “a bridge club” shows that the woman was a neat person who enjoyed a high quality life. And when the author missing the important woman, the sentences like “ she hangs in the hall downstairs, a shadow with pulled threads” which like movie replay past situations in author’s head. The woman figure lean against the window, and with the sunshine on her back, the author was suddenly in the house many years ago---smiling to her loved one and gave a hug to her.

Then, speaking of the most difficult part of the poem---the interrogative sentences at the end of the poem. At first time, I didn’t understand what the meaning of the questions. After I read this poem over serval times, I noticed three things in these sentences. First of all, it’s the word “orphaned”. I didn’t know this word, so I check it by dictionary and I know it means deprived of parents by death or desertion. I suddenly remember the theme of this poem is missing a loved one who has passed away. Therefore, I think the female figure in the poem who is a very important person in author’s life probably is author’s mother. Secondly, the word “coat” drawn my attention. The title of the poem is “Second-hand coat” and the beginning of the description of author’s mother is “in her pocket”, so I think “the second-hand coat” is a concealed clue of this poem which is ignored by reader but throughout the whole poem. The coat probably was the only legacy her mother left her. One day, when author tidied her house and came across that coat, then she lost in the deep memories. The third thing is the last two sentences in the poem “Get your purse, have you got your keys?” means author hopes that her mother can come back home and remember to bring the keys, which make the feeling of missing deeper.

Moreover, there is a detail in the poem which I think is also hard to understand is “shadow”. I think that means her mother stays in her memory forever. Although the important one in our lives has passed away, they will always live in our hearts forever like shadow. Finally, I will talk about my understand of the structure and rhythm of this poem. First, this poem doesn’t have rhyme like other poems, but has an interesting rhythm and pause like “wore nice cotton gloves” “kept a handkerchief box” and “ate at the Holiday Inn”. This rhythm makes this poem read rhythmic. To sum up, this poem uses “second-hand coat” as clue to cherish the memories of author’s mother who had passed away. I was moved by this poem and felt deep love and yearning of the author. The one that loves us never really leaves us, and we can always find them in our heart.