Question:
Questions about this poem.....?
1) What is the theme in this poem
2) It's kind of a long poem but can you please paraphrase it in easy words? I just don't get what this poem is about T_T..
3) What's the tone in this poem?
4)Does the tone change?
5)After reading the poem, do you have different feelings about the title?
Dusting
Each morning I wrote my name
on the dusty cabinet, then crossed
the dining table in scriptm scrawled
in capitals on the back of chairs,
practicing signatures like scales
while Mother followed, squirting
linseed from a burping can
into a crumpled-up flannel.
She erased my fingerprints
from the bookshelf and rocker,
polished mirrors on the desk
scribbled with my alphabets
My name was swallowed in the towel
with which she jeweled the table tops.
The grain surfaced in the oak
and the pine grew luminous.
But I refused with every mark
to be like her, anonymous.
- Julia Alvarez
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
theme: leaving your mark
paraphrase: kid writes her name on dusty furniture, practicing her signature; mom comes along and wipes it all away in the name of cleanliness/beauty. kid doesn't want to erase identity and become anonymous like mom (possibly invisible trophy-wife type).
tone: regret? melancholy? something like that
tone change: uhhhh dunno
feelings about title: dusting now seems a much more symbolic and serious act...