A Line by Line Analysis

1. The Title poem
By Rita Dove

2.  Form – Lyric; A double sonnet (28 lines); however,
the indented lines gives that the previous line is
continuing, therefore, also giving the impression
that this is actually a single sonnet – a version of
inverted Italian sonnet
 Persona – Demeter
 Situation in the poem – She remembers what it is
like to care for a child from birth, watching them
grow to adulthood. She confesses what she in her
attempt to care for an infant boy entrusted to her
by his mother.

3.  This poem records the state of Demeter’s mind
after having lost Persephone to Hades.
 It records the psychological scars of a mother
after a child is lost and her desperate efforts to
remedy the pain that comes with that loss.
 Mood – reflective; disturbing
 Tone – bitter

4.  Feminism: Women as Victims of Sexual
Exploitation
 Motherhood as instinctive
 Child rearing


5. The sestet

6. Demeter tells us what it
is like to be a mother.
She points out that the
job is instinctive, one
that an experienced
mother never forgets
and only gets better
at.
 The purpose of this
stanza is to explain
the reason for her
actions in stanza 2

7. “Who can forget the
attitude of
mothering?”
 A rhetorical question
 Demeter expects that
we all should know
that once one becomes
a mother, the task
becomes a habit. The
love lasts forever.

8. “Toss me a baby and without bothering
to blink I’ll catch her, sling him on a hip.” (2-
3)

9. “Any woman knows the
remedy for grief is
being need: duty
bugles and we’ll climb
out of exhaustion
every time, bare the
nipple or tuck in the
sheet, heat the milk
and hum at bedside
until…” (l. 4-8)

10. “…they can dress themselves and rise, primed for
Love or Glory – those one-way mirrors girls peer
into as their fledgling heroes slip through,
storming the smoky battlefield.” (l. 8-12)

11.  Fledgling – (1)a young
bird that has just
developed wing
feathers that are large
enough for flight; (2)
denoting an
inexperienced person.
 Oxymoronic – a hero is
usually experienced,
responsible and mature
– someone to look up to.
“Fledgling
heroes” (line 11)

12.  “Love or Glory – those one-way mirrors girls
peer into” - metaphor
 “Love or Glory” – the men who girls look to for
acceptance are referred to as Love; the rest of
the world who looks on to admire these girls, is
referred to as Glory.

13.  Meaning – girls are
groomed and bred, it
seems to please men
or society; they
eventually grow up to
look to the rest of the
world or their
significant other for
affection, acceptance
and a sense of identity

14. The octave

15.  An allusion to the Greek myth when Demeter
seeks to care for a human boy baby, whose
mother had left in her care, but harms him in
the process.
 Demeter tells us that it was instinctive for her
to want to take care of the baby boy when his
mother came to her. She wished to cure him so
that he would not be guilty of cruelty as other
men are .

16. “I decided
to save
him” (line 21)
 Fire as a source of
curing/cleansing
 Demeter seeks to burn
away any impurities
that would make the
boy-child grow up to
make the same
mistakes as adult
men.

17.  “a baby sizzling on a spit as neat as a Virginia
ham. Poor human to scream like that, to make
me remember.”

18.  “a baby sizzling
on a spit as neat
as a Virginia
ham.
Simile – a shocking
comparison between a
baby and a piece of
meat roasting over
fire;
• The image shows an
image of cruelty and
makes us quite
concerned about
Demeter’s mental state

19.  “Poor human
to scream like
that, to make
me
remember”

20.  “Poor human
to scream like
that, to make
me
remember”
 The mother’s screams,
as she witnesses what
Demeter does to her
son, remind Demeter
of her own screams,
her own pain, when
she discovered that
Persephone was
abducted.
 She feels the mother’s
pain and sympathizes
with her.