The Circle Of Life In Ted Kooser's Poem Mother

The Circle of Life Edward Young, an English poet, had once said. “There is something about poetry beyond prose logic, there is mystery in it, not to be explained but admired.” Poems may use few words, but they can invest the reader as if they’d have read a novel instead of a few stanzas. This is because of an author’s use of the poetic craft to form their vision. Ted Kooser’s poem entitled Mother shows great examples of intense imagery, symbolism, and irony to arouse the emotions of anger and hope. Using the creative craft, Ted Kooser places the reader in the shoes of the narrator who is dealing with emotions after the loss of his/her mother. Through the use of imagery, the author paints a portrait of a landscape filled with lush grass, blossoms and fruit. Furthermore, he shows the visual abundance of wildlife and flowers and presents the smell of blossoms and their sweet perfume. He enriches you in the environment by providing the sounds of geese splashing in a pond. Most importantly, though, he gives the image of the narrator’s mother. The information of how she used to sewing …show more content…
The poem takes place in April during the spring. Since spring is generally symbolic of new life and growth, it could be symbolic of moving on. While the narrator’s mother has died, her body will live on in the soil of the new spring. The reader is shown the contrast of blossoms against the green grass and burned ditches. He includes burnt ditches to emphasize the role of rebirth in spring. In order to create healthy soil, farmers burn fields and ditches to put nutrients back into the soil and revitalize the land. Again, the field is symbolic of the fact that with death comes rebirth. When the poem shows the image of the “storm that walked on legs of lightning”, it is actually an allegory that is symbolic of his angry emotions to his mother’s death. An expression of anger that his/her mother was taken away from