A detailed analysis of the poem ‘Poem at Thirty-Nine by Alice Walker, tailored towards GCSE / IGCSE (Edexcel and CIE/Cambridge) students but also useful for those studying at a higher level.
Includes:
VOCABULARY
STORY/SUMMARY
SPEAKER/VOICE
LANGUAGE
STRUCTURE/FORM
ATTITUDES
CONTEXT
TH...
“How I miss my father.
I wish he had not been
so tired
when i was
born”
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright)
VOCABULARY
Deposit slips - a written piece of paper that is used when depositing money into the
bank
Checks - ‘cheques’ in English spelling, a signed piece of paper that is used to
withdraw or transfer money from one bank account to another - they used to be used
as a form of payment
Yoga - a form of spiritual and physical exercise that centres around breathing and
body movement
Meditation - part of yoga practise, or a more general spiritual practise which centres
around focusing or clearing the mind and letting go of stress, worries or fear
Voluptuous - luxurious and pleasurable, also often used to describe feminine form
STORY/SUMMARY
Stanza 1: The poet says she misses her father and wishes he’d been less tired when
she was born - perhaps a metaphor to suggest that he was always working or had no
time and energy for her.
Stanza 2: When she writes money deposit slips and cheques (checks), she thinks about
him and how he taught her to manage finances. She saw keeping track of and
, managing money as a way to escape from her parents’ lifestyle and started saving very
early, even in high school.
Stanza 3: He also taught her to tell the truth, even though sometimes she may have
gotten in trouble for it, and sometimes it may have hurt him to know the truth.
Stanza 4: She remembers him cooking, and how this was an almost spiritual act for
him. He enjoyed the process of cooking and the act of sharing food.
Stanza 5: The poet now thinks about herself, and how she copies her father’s
behaviour (as well as his appearance). She cooks in a similar way, using the process of
cooking to switch off and enjoy herself, equally she enjoys the process of feeding
others.
Stanza 6: Finally, she realises he would have been proud of the woman that she’s
become. Her behaviour is similar to his own, both domestic and creative.
SPEAKER/VOICE
The speaker in the poem is Walker herself, drawing on her own personal experiences
and memories to explore how we connect to family and tradition, and how our own
lives are influenced daily by our upbringing. There is a nostalgic tone to the poem as
Walker reflects on her relationship with her father happily, but with a tinge of
sadness as we realise he is no longer around.
LANGUAGE
Antithesis - ‘dancing/in a yoga meditation’ seems like a contradictory phrase and is
perhaps an oxymoron. Dancing usually connotes swift movement, whereas the act of
meditation requires calm and stillness. However, we can think more metaphorically
about these contrasts in order to shed light on Walker’s intentions - she is trying to
convey the way in which her father was graceful and skilful at cooking and regarded it
as a form of artistic and creative expression, like a dancer’s approach to their dance.
Equally, when he was cooking he cleared his mind from thoughts and worries, and was
able to find a place of calm and stillness during the act of preparing food - we could
say that it placed him into a ‘meditative state’ of mind, which was part of the
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