Comparison between “The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me” and “An Amish rug”
Eavan Boland and Michael Longley
“The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me” and “An Amish rug”, by Eavan Boland and Michael Longley respectively, both revolve around the common themes of love as well as the sentimental bonds that tie family together.
On the one hand, through “An Amish rug”, the poet imparts the simplicity of love: Michael Longley appears to be writing to his wife, for his wife. Through the poem and the intricate patchwork of imagery the poet weaves, Michael Longley demonstrates the wealth of love and by analogy, nature: “We shall step over it as over a flowerbed”. The title of the poem moreover alludes to a religious group, the “Amish” who are renowned …show more content…
The fan as an object symbolises women, the past as well as a general theme of romance and courtship. Eavan Bolan hence seizes the opportunity to universalise the bonds of love in the form of a ‘story’, a tale of her parents’ meeting and love.
The universalisation of love in “The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me” is enshrined in the speaker of the poem. Although the reader can deduce from the title that the poem is written from the first person, the first person pronouns remain absent from “The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me”. There is moreover an emphasis in the first line on the pronouns “he” and “her”, stressing this absence. This lends ambiguity to the poem - the title stands as the seeds whence the reader’s curiosity is stimulated and thus compelled to read on.
“An Amish rug” is also written from the first person. Yet, Michael Longley displays his use of the first person narrative in “An Amish rug” extensively; hence contributing to the romantic dedication this poem could be. This is highlighted by the simple form of the poem, which evokes the simplicity of love the poet may be …show more content…
That the fan is “black” firstly introduces sombre connotations, where the colour black is often associated with sadness and melancholy. The “lace”, a traditionally dainty and delicate material, implies fragility. This can be interpreted as an allusion to the fragility of love. One can hence suppose that their love was not ‘timeless’; “the past is an empty café terrace […] A man running”. The black lace fan can therefore stand as a symbol for a love which has exhausted itself, a symbol for the past; the black lace fan is now “worn-out” and “overcast”, whence the atmosphere is
Eavan Boland and Michael Longley
“The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me” and “An Amish rug”, by Eavan Boland and Michael Longley respectively, both revolve around the common themes of love as well as the sentimental bonds that tie family together.
On the one hand, through “An Amish rug”, the poet imparts the simplicity of love: Michael Longley appears to be writing to his wife, for his wife. Through the poem and the intricate patchwork of imagery the poet weaves, Michael Longley demonstrates the wealth of love and by analogy, nature: “We shall step over it as over a flowerbed”. The title of the poem moreover alludes to a religious group, the “Amish” who are renowned …show more content…
The fan as an object symbolises women, the past as well as a general theme of romance and courtship. Eavan Bolan hence seizes the opportunity to universalise the bonds of love in the form of a ‘story’, a tale of her parents’ meeting and love.
The universalisation of love in “The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me” is enshrined in the speaker of the poem. Although the reader can deduce from the title that the poem is written from the first person, the first person pronouns remain absent from “The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me”. There is moreover an emphasis in the first line on the pronouns “he” and “her”, stressing this absence. This lends ambiguity to the poem - the title stands as the seeds whence the reader’s curiosity is stimulated and thus compelled to read on.
“An Amish rug” is also written from the first person. Yet, Michael Longley displays his use of the first person narrative in “An Amish rug” extensively; hence contributing to the romantic dedication this poem could be. This is highlighted by the simple form of the poem, which evokes the simplicity of love the poet may be …show more content…
That the fan is “black” firstly introduces sombre connotations, where the colour black is often associated with sadness and melancholy. The “lace”, a traditionally dainty and delicate material, implies fragility. This can be interpreted as an allusion to the fragility of love. One can hence suppose that their love was not ‘timeless’; “the past is an empty café terrace […] A man running”. The black lace fan can therefore stand as a symbol for a love which has exhausted itself, a symbol for the past; the black lace fan is now “worn-out” and “overcast”, whence the atmosphere is