Please help me with this poem, Bringing the Dolls (For Anya)..?

Question

Bringing the Dolls (For Anya)

By: Merlie Alunan

Two dolls in rags and tatters,

one missing an arm and a leg,

the other blind in one eye—I grabbed them from her arms,

“No,” I said, “they cannot come.”

Each tight baggage

I had packed

only for the barest need:

no room for sentiment or memory

to clutter with loose ends

my stern resolve. I reasoned,

even a child must learn

she cannot take what must be left behind.

And so the boat turned seaward,

a smart wind blowing dry

the stealthy tears I could not wipe.

Then I saw—rags, tatters and all—

there among the neat trim packs,

the dolls I ruled to leave behind.

Her silence should have warned me

she knew her burdens

as I knew mine:

her clean white years unlived—

and paid my price.

She battened on a truth

she knew I too must own:

when what’s at stake

is loyalty or love,

hers are the true rights.

Her own faiths she must keep, not I.

~ This poem is about divorce. and please explain each of the stanza.. I'm not feeling good today.. Thanks

Answer 1

Classified as one of the experience poems, “Bringing the Dolls” (for Anya) is a recount of an actual experience of Alunan when they, as a family, had to move from Cebu to Tacloban, her present residence.

While this first interpretation is a kind of inference by this researcher- the analyses of the poem seem to agree with this inference.

Bringing the Dolls (For Anya)

First, the most striking feature or dramatic quality of this monologue is the persona (who defines the poem’s speaking voice, its point of view). The basic storyline of the poem is told through the persona (the mother) in the form of a monologue. The mother has decided to move her family to another place, and tells her young daughter to leave her two threadbare dolls behind. The mother thinks to herself that this is the correct thing to do, since she wants to teach her daughter some lesson. On the boat the mother tries to hold back her tears when she sees the dolls tucked away among the packs; it is at this point that the mother realizes the reason behind her daughter’s silence: the daughter knew all along what she needed to do, which was to keep her own faiths and stay loyal to the dolls whom she loves.

Here we find that a good poem is more than its images or its theme; rather it is mainly its words:

Bringing the Dolls Paraphrase

Each tight luggage I was economical in my packing

I had packed I didn’t bring

Only for the barest need unnecessary objects

No room for sentiment or Memory.

To clutter with loose ends

And so the boat turned seaward, Then the boat sailed out to the sea

A smart wind blowing dry the tears I didn’t want to shed

The stealthy tears I could not were blown away by the strong

wipe. wind.

The last three lines dramatize an emotion (one of sadness) in a painfully understated way (a smart wind blowing dry/ the stealthy tears I could not wipe)

paraphrased to mean; the wind wipes away the tears for her; in other words, she cannot even admit to herself that she is crying.

While this poem of Alunan is distinctly clear in telling the theme, making it one easy poem to teach-it contains its own set of ambivalence or even ambiguity; though its purpose is intentional. Certain lines do invite ambivalent interpretations, like the

following five lines in the fourth stanza:

Her silence should have warned me

She knew her burdens

As I knew mine:

Her clean white years unlived-

And paid my price.

Whose burdens are referred her- the mother persona or the daughter character in the poem? Moreover, is it correct to assume that her clean white years – refer to the daughter’s than it is, of the mother’s- because she is younger and still has a long way to go and several experiences likely to have. Finally, who is paying the mother’s price- the mother or the daughter? In all these, this particular syntax is definitely not a random occurrence. The poet decided on it precisely to heighten the tragedy of her persona’s realization- that she must respect her daughter’s choice too in bringing the dolls.knew all along what she needed to do, which was to keep her own faiths and stay loyal to the dolls whom she loves.

Here we find that a good poem is more than its images or its theme; rather it is mainly its words:

Bringing the Dolls Paraphrase

Each tight luggage I was economical in my packing

I had packed I didn’t bring

Only for the barest need unnecessary objects

No room for sentiment or Memory.

To clutter with loose ends

And so the boat turned seaward, Then the boat sailed out to the sea

A smart wind blowing dry the tears I didn’t want to shed

The stealthy tears I could not were blown away by the strong

wipe. wind.

The last three lines dramatize an emotion (one of sadness) in a painfully understated way (a smart wind blowing dry/ the stealthy tears I could not wipe)

paraphrased to mean; the wind wipes away the tears for her; in other words, she cannot even admit to herself that she is crying.

While this poem of Alunan is distinctly clear in telling the theme, making it one easy poem to teach-it contains its own set of ambivalence or even ambiguity; though its purpose is intentional. Certain lines do invite ambivalent interpretations, like the following five lines in the fourth stanza:

Her silence should have warned me

She knew her burdens

As I knew mine:

Her clean white years unlived-

And paid my price.

Whose burdens are referred her- the mother persona or the daughter character in the poem? Moreover, is it correct to assume that her clean white years – refer to the daughter’s than it is, of the mother’s- because she is younger and still has a long way to go and several experiences likely to have. Finally, who is paying the mother’s price- the mother or the daughter? In all these, this particular syntax is definitely not a random occurrence. The poet decided on it precisely to heighten the tragedy of her persona’s realization- that she must respect her daughter’s choice too in bringing the dolls.