Summary
Summary Gr12 Poetry - "Reciprocities"
- Course
- Institution
This notes is about the poem "Reciprocities"
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
OpsommingsSummaries
Reviews received
Content preview
Reciprocitiesby Cathal Lagan
, ABOUT THE POET:
Cathal Lagan was born in Northern Ireland in 1937. He moved to South Africa
where he became a priest. He worked mainly in Port Elizabeth, Alice and King
William’s Town.
Thereafter he taught English literature at the University of Fort Hare. Lagan has been
publishing poetry in journals since the 1960s.
He was a founding member of Ecca, an informal group of colleagues and friends who get
together to work on poetry projects.
This poem is a tribute to his beloved mother. He reflects on the relationship between
them. He remembers how his mother would make him hold skeins of wool so that she
could roll it into a ball to re-use for her knitting..
Remembering that his mother knitted for him, he imagines that he now ‘knits’ these lines
of this poem in her memory.
, Reciprocities by Cathal Lagan
for my mother
She gave me skeins of wool
To hold out (like a priest at Mass),
With stern rubrics not to fidget, while she
Wound it into a ball, unwinding me,
Unravelling my hands and arms, checking 5
My lapses with a gentle tug
When I wandered off through the images
Her chat had made, for though
She kept the line between us taut
She kept my heart at ease with her talk. 10
And when her ball compacted grew,
And my few strands fell limp away,
I knew there was no loss, for she
Would knit it back again to fit me perfectly.
But richer still, 15
I see today these lines are drawn out from me
To knit through this faltering verse
A thread of memory
Time has pulled away from consciousness.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller OpsommingsSummaries. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $2.92. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
79276 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now