Summary Of The Poem Marks By Linda Pastan

In the text, “The Norton Introduction to Literature 12th Edition” by Kelly J. Mays, you will find a poem written by Linda Pastan on page 838 titled “Marks”. This poem’s poetry genre is Dramatic. It is considered a Dramatic poem because it gives off a tone of the narrator explaining a situation rather than writing or telling a story. In this poem, Linda Pastan used metaphors as her literary device. The whole poem is one big metaphor because her family is using a grading system to rate her as a wife as well as a mother. In “Marks”, Linda Pastan starts out the poem by explaining what her husband thinks about her and ending the poem about what her children think of her. She starts off the poem stating that her husband gives her an A for her cooking skills, an incomplete for ironing and a B+ for her skills in bed. Here she is explaining how her family uses a grading system to grade her as a housewife. She then proceeds and talks about her children. Her son explains that she is an average mother but she can definitely improve on her skills. Her daughter on the other hand, believes in pass and failing grades and tells her mother that she is passing. The last sentence of the poem takes a dark turn and Linda Pastan states, “Wait ‘til they learn I’m dropping out.” There are so many ways to interpret that last …show more content…
Mays on page 838 you will find a poem written by Linda Pastan entitled “Marks”. In this short 12-line poem, Linda Pastan explains the life of a average family mother who is wondering if she is a doing an adequate job as a mother and a wife. The mother’s family uses a grading system to grade her on her parenting and housework duties. Finally, towards the end of the poem, it suddenly takes a dark turn when the mother announces she is “dropping out” of her family. The final sentence of the poem suggests that the mother wants to file for divorce but her family does not know it