In-depth analysis of the poem Reciprocities. This document consists of 4 resources compiled into one. All the important notes are labeled to make the summary as short as possible for easy learning.
Title: Reciprocities
for my mother
Summary: The speaker reflects on how he used to help his mother during her knitting sessions. He thinks
about how his mother would make him hold the skeins of wool so she could roll it into a ball.
He compares his writing to his mother's knitting. His mother benefitted from him just like he benefitted from
his mother’s experience, commitment, talks and skill.
Analysis:
Stanza 1:
His mother would give him skeins to hold up like a priest at mass. He receives instructions not to fidget.
She would check his concentration by pulling the strands harder. When he loses concentration/starts to
wander, his mother would put him at ease by talking to him.
1 She gave me skeins of wool Meaning: His mother gives him a big loop of wool to hold
2 To hold out (like a priest at Mass), Simile ‘like a priest at Mass’:
- The speaker compares the way he holds out his hands to
the way a priest would during a mass.
Reason for holding out hands:
- The mother would loop the wool around his outstretched
hands.
Brackets: Separates boy from man he is yet to become.
3 With stern rubrics not to fidget, while Meaning: She gave him instructions to him to focus.
she Can also be instructions that he would follow during mass.
4 Wound it into a ball, unwinding me, Metaphor ‘wound it into a ball, unwinding me,’:
- They boy is compared to the wool the mother winds and
unwinds.
Effectiveness:
5 Unravelling my hands and arms, - When she unwinds him, she is correcting him.
checking - When she winds him in, she is drawing his close to her
heart.
- She is learning to know him ‘perfectly’.
6 My lapses with a gentle tug His mother checks his lapses:
- The boy has a tendency of wandering in thoughts and
that might lead to him loosening the grip.
7 When I wandered off through Meaning: If he loses concentration and starts to wander and
images form images in his head, his mother would put him at ease by
8 Her chat had made, for though talking to him.
9 She kept the line between us taut Metaphor: ‘line between us taut’:
- The connection between the mother and her son, is
compared to the line of wool between them, the mother
keeps both tight.
Use of the word line:
1. It is the string he is holding to help his mother
2. Relationship they have, where she would pull him back to
track when going astray.
10 She kept my heart at ease with all At ease: his mother’s gentle conversation/chatting keeps him
her talk. relaxed.
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