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The images that are particularly striking to me are the images of the child trembling like a leaf ("...I knew what it meant to tremble like a leaf.") and the image of floods pouring through the city ("...Floods poured through the city...").
1. "...I knew what it meant to tremble like a leaf." This image is very striking to me, because I can not imagine this child's pain. Whether it might have been a memory of the poet, or just an imaginary character, the image in my mind sounds painful for this character. I can imagine a young child, listening to the grown-ups fighting and quarreling, and being scared that something will happen to themself, there's nothing they can do but stand there and tremble.To have to endure constant fighting and bickering, even possible abuse from just down the hall, being scared and helpless, it's terrible. If I had gone through that, I would have REALLY understood what it meant to be trembling like a leaf.
Words and Word Choice
2. "...Floods poured through the city...". In this image, I could imagine giant waves and floods occurring to the city, but in my thoughts, I didn't believe the poet was actually talking about floods throughout the city. I believe the poet is using symbolism here- the "floods" symbolizing terror, and the "city" symbolizing the character. The terror of something terrible happening to themselves, the sibling, the grown-ups, the family, it was overpowering their body. This also makes me think that this terror is also what might have caused the trembling in the previous example. The terror was filling their mind, controlling their body, it was taking over.
The imagery is strong in this poem, I could picture everything as if I was the character in that situation.
There is one part of the poem that made me use my hearing sense. The line that says, "...I heard the claws of rain pounce..."and, "...skies clapped over me." While reading this line, I realized that by saying the skies were clapping, the poet was saying it was actually thunder, not actual claps. I feel like I can actually hear rain and thunder. I didn't imagine actual rain pouring outside,or the thunder outside, but I imagined that the character was scared and it was like their world was ending. Their world was terrified, and it was like there was rain and thunder around them, loud and clear.
Similes:
Personification:
standing in the hall agaisnt the
wall with my little brother, blown like leaves against the wall by their voices,my head like a pingpong ball between the paddles of their anger;
I knew what it meant
To tremble like a leaf.
Assonance:
Consonance:
Cold with their wrath, I heard the claws of the rain
bounce. Floods
poured through the city,
skies clapped over me,
and I was shaken, shaken
like a mouse
between their jaws.
Rhyme:
Alliteration:
Ruth Whitman, a poet and a longtime Radcliffe Seminars instructor, was a woman who believed that she could be both a mother and a passionate poet. She was born in May 28, 1922. She wrote many BOOKS of poems, such as "Blood and Milk Poems","Laughing Gas", "Permanent Adress", "Marriage Wig and Other Poems", "The Passion of Lizzie Borden", "The Testing of Hanna Senesh", "Hatshepshut", "Speak to me", and her most famous book, "Tamsen Donner: A Woman's Journey". Ruth Whitman was a very successful poet, not to mention a translator and a professor. Sadly, she left her husband, Morton Sacks, her three children, Rachel Whitman, Lee Whitman-Raymond, and David Houghton; and eight grandchildren, when she passed away at the age of 77.
This poem that she wrote, Listening to Grownups Quarreling, has 2 stanzas. One is a septet(7 lines), and the other is an octave(8 lines). The person speaking could possibly be the poet, Ruth Whitman, speaking from experience or a childhood memory, or it could possibly be just an imaginary child with their younger sibling. There is no dialogue, just a character speaking in their mind, seems to be speaking to the reader. The poem is about two children. These two children are standing in the hall while they hear two grownups fighting over something, and these two grown-ups could possibly be their parents. There is no actual proof to prove that it is their parents, it just seems like it is. The older sibling is talking about the feelings that are being felt as he hears the yells and screams down the hall.
The mood/ tone of this poem is frightened. The reason for this is because the author is describing the child as trembling leaves being blown away by the angry voices (1."...blown like leaves against the wall by their voices...", 2."...I knew what it meant to tremble like a leaf..."). The child was filled with terror and tears, it was overpowering them ("...Floods poured through the city..."). For them, it was like there was a angry storm around them, thunder everywhere, but not literally, just to them it felt like it ("...skies clapped over me..."). They were a mouse, a helpless mouse about to be crushed ("...and I was shaken, shaken like a mouse between their jaws."). I believe the poem is trying to teach us, the readers, that it's okay to be scared sometimes. Sometimes, not everything is going to be okay, things do go downhill at times, but try your best to stay strong. That doesn't mean to hold in all your feelings, for sometimes, "floods pour through the city". The poet feels that when you can hear grown-ups fighting or abusing each other, possible your parents, that it can be scary. The poet is thinking the child's point of view-while the adults are fighting and possible abusing each other, it hurts the child. It may not always hurt the child physically, but it can hurt the child emotionally. She believes that the subject shouldn't be taken lightly, because serious damage can be caused to the ones quarreling, or to others around them. The title of the poem sort of gives an idea of what the poem would be about. For me, it certainly did. The title, "Listening to Grown-ups Quarreling" already tells me that in this poem, there will be someone that can hear adults fighting. The word "quarreling" in the title gives me the idea that this poem won't be happy, and since its grown-ups quarreling, it can be scary because sometimes fighting can lead to abuse. I didn't know exactly that there was going to be a child listening, but I knew that this poem wouldn't be happy.
Ruth Whitman(1922-1999)
Denotation
This poem is about two children standing in the hall listening to two grown ups angrily fighting (blown like leaves against the wall by their voices, my head like a ping pong ball between the paddles of their anger;). They are scared and afraid of what's going to happen and how it will affect them (I knew what it meant to tremble like a leaf).
Connotation
These two kids feel vulnerable to the adults, they feel like trembling leaves being blown away ("blown like leaves against the wall by their voices..." "I knew what it meant to tremble like a leaf..."). The character speaking, their head was the ping pong ball used by the grown ups ping pong paddles,("my head like a ping ping ball between the paddles of their anger;") as in their head was confused and trapped with the grown ups' anger and their yells and screams. It was like the character was the mouse about to be crushed by their jaws ("and I was shaken, shaken like a mouse between their jaws.").
The way I reacted to this poem is that I was shocked and a bit sad. I was shocked because I never thought of hearing grown-ups fighting in that perspective. I've certainly heard adults fight before, but it wasn't so serious. It made me a bit upset when it happened to me, but it doesn't even come close to this experience. It did move me, it made me really think about how it is for other children in the world that have to deal with this kind of problem everyday. There are kids that might even be afraid to go home to these kind of problems or grown-ups fighting all the time, and they are happy when they get away from it. It's honestly very terrible and I wonder if this is a problem the poet had when she was a child, and she wrote this poem from experience. What makes me the most shocked is that sometimes the kids can get hurt-not just emotionally, but physically, as well. I do, however, think this poem is very effective. I believe this because it makes the reader really think about how some kids deal with this at home. How to think of it in a different point of view and understand the pain rather than just hearing about it from somewhere, not taking it seriously.