Poem at Thirty-Nine

• • “Poem at Thirty-Nine” - narrator is an adult - nostalgic tone
• • “How I miss my father. I wish he had not been so tired when I was born.“ - immediate mournful/regretful tone established
  • personal pronouns = first person narrative = intimate poem - Alice Walker’s own experience
  • enjambement = chain of thoughts/struggling to express - difficult topic to talk about
• • “Writing deposits slips I think of him”
  • continuation of enjambement = chain of thiught
  • semantic field of finance/monetary image = money was a burden - focusing on the negative aspects
  • “This is the form” - simple sentences & language = childlike language - nostalgia of her childhood memories with her father - life was simple and better with her dad
  • “I learned to see bits of paper as a way to escape the life he knew” - implies hardship/caring father - wanting to break generational curses
  • could be linked to 1st stanza - “I wish he had not been so tired“
• • “Telling the truth did not always been a beating” - indicates values he believes in - honest relationship
  • indicates parenting style was strict but this is not the focus
  • “many of my truths must have grieved him before the end”
  • implies some conflict but doesn’t discredit their relationship
  • euphemism - highlights difficulty in coming to terms with his death
• • “How I miss my father! He cooked like a person dancing in a yoga meditation And craved the voluptuous sharing of good food”
  • ! - mirrors how greatly she misses him - but celebratory tone of his legacy
  • oxymoron - “dancing in a yoga meditation“ - beautiful to watch, energetic yet focused - intricate skill with an inspiring legacy
  • “Craved the voluptuous sharing of good food” - generous
• • “Now I look and cook just like him” - assonance represents the similarities between walker and her father
  • “seasoning no e of my life the same way twice“ -metaphor implies that she has broken the generational curses and of the ”life he knew”
• • “He would have grown to admire” - regretful tone with the conditional - didn’t get to see all of her achievements
  • Cooking,writing,chopping Wood, staring into the fire” - listing - vast variety of talents and independence-
  • “staring into the fire” - symbolism suggests her father’s legacy lives on and is as inspiring that it sparks fire in her - omnipresent memory of him
• • Structural technqiues
  • free verse = chain of thought - memories sparking another memory
  • first POV - intimate poem
  • six unequal stanzas
• • Themes;
  • childhood
  • loss
  • regret
  • nostalgia
  • memories
  • familial love