Child

A poem in which the poetic persona expresses her frustrated wishes for her child.

Written less than two weeks before her suicide, Child was published posthumously in Winter Trees in 1971.

§ Dramatic opening to poem; voice is of mother addressing a child. The line seems to tell us more about the mother than the child. Her world is diminished while the child’s is clear, unmisted by prejudice and experience.
§ What the mother wants for the child – random progression in imagery suggests the unpredictability and pleasure of the world she wants to show her child. Note the phrase “zoo of the new” – expresses the potentially delightful nature of the world, but also the humour and inventiveness of the mother.
§ The name s of the flowers would seem also to describe the child itself – the April snowdrop is traditionally a symbol of spring and new beginnings.
§ The child’s eye is described in terms of a pool – the pool image suggests something dangerous and unstable with depth. Perhaps she is referring to the “inward eye”, the imagination, the inner world.
§ The final images of the poem describe what are reflected in the child’s eye - images of anguish, agitation and hopelessness. There is a hint of frustration at the mother’s inability to provide for the child. Perhaps this is the real source of the despair at the end of the poem – a sense of being powerless, without confidence.

Questions
1. Would you agree that this poem is as much if not more about the mother than the child of the title? Explain your answer.
2. Describe the type of “pool” you picture as described in the poem? Does it differ from the water imagery in Mirror?