Madison Dunn
English 133-22HY
Stanford
October 9, 2014
Poem Explication The poem “Ethics” by Linda Pastan is about the narrator focusing back on her ethics class and mainly on a question that was asked every year that would challenge the narrators thoughts, emotions, and point of view. The poem takes shape first from an old memory from school days of the author and is then bridged through images of frames and fire to the understanding acquired in the poet's older years. (Introduction 1) “If there were a fire in a museum/ which would you save, a Rembrandt painting/ or an old woman who hadn’t many years left anyhow?” (Ethics lines 2-5) Every year she would answer the question differently. One year she would side with the painting and the next …show more content…
The author uses the example of comparing the old woman to her grandmother, relating the question to them to make it seem more personal. By the speaker being an old woman she then relates the question to herself “This fall in a real museum I stand/ before a real Rembrandt-old woman/ or nearly so, myself.” (Ethics17-19) meaning that the poem is more for someone who has reached her age rather than for children. This supporting the theme of the poem those children cannot understand the concept of the poem until they have grown and matured …show more content…
She describes the painting with colors that are darker than autumn; and even darker than winter and all the browns of the earth and explains how the earth’s most radiant elements burn through the canvas of the Rembrandt painting. The author really explains to us how much the painting really is worth to her, how it is not just some painting but a masterpiece. This poem is not just about an ethics lesson learned by a bunch of children but a life long lesson about growing and learning throughout a persons life. It is about the life of one woman and about through view that children have on certain points of view such as this one. This is also to understand the real importance and beauty of life and the beauty of old things and the impact that they have on us. Sometimes it is hard to understand things such as an old Rembrandt painting that is a hundred years old. This poem really helps to describe the way people think about things like old paintings and old women. They are often and easily over looked when then are what real beauty actually
English 133-22HY
Stanford
October 9, 2014
Poem Explication The poem “Ethics” by Linda Pastan is about the narrator focusing back on her ethics class and mainly on a question that was asked every year that would challenge the narrators thoughts, emotions, and point of view. The poem takes shape first from an old memory from school days of the author and is then bridged through images of frames and fire to the understanding acquired in the poet's older years. (Introduction 1) “If there were a fire in a museum/ which would you save, a Rembrandt painting/ or an old woman who hadn’t many years left anyhow?” (Ethics lines 2-5) Every year she would answer the question differently. One year she would side with the painting and the next …show more content…
The author uses the example of comparing the old woman to her grandmother, relating the question to them to make it seem more personal. By the speaker being an old woman she then relates the question to herself “This fall in a real museum I stand/ before a real Rembrandt-old woman/ or nearly so, myself.” (Ethics17-19) meaning that the poem is more for someone who has reached her age rather than for children. This supporting the theme of the poem those children cannot understand the concept of the poem until they have grown and matured …show more content…
She describes the painting with colors that are darker than autumn; and even darker than winter and all the browns of the earth and explains how the earth’s most radiant elements burn through the canvas of the Rembrandt painting. The author really explains to us how much the painting really is worth to her, how it is not just some painting but a masterpiece. This poem is not just about an ethics lesson learned by a bunch of children but a life long lesson about growing and learning throughout a persons life. It is about the life of one woman and about through view that children have on certain points of view such as this one. This is also to understand the real importance and beauty of life and the beauty of old things and the impact that they have on us. Sometimes it is hard to understand things such as an old Rembrandt painting that is a hundred years old. This poem really helps to describe the way people think about things like old paintings and old women. They are often and easily over looked when then are what real beauty actually