The Rites Of Cousin Vit Analysis

‘The rites of Cousin Vit’ is an elegy in the form of a sonnet. At first the poem seems to simply tell us that it is unbelievable Vit is dead as she was so lively. However upon a closer reading see the voice expressing her displeasure with her place in society through her admiration of Vit. Brooks explores the themes of mortality, vitality and femininity using techniques such as the meter of the poem and even the name of the character alongside the language of the poem in order to convey these themes.
The voice of the poem is a persona called Annie Allen, who is from a larger anthology of the same name. Annie is developed from an egotistical romantic to that of a realist who wants to shape the world around her. As ‘the rites of Cousin Vit’ falls within the third volume we may expect that the language of …show more content…
Brooks offers a juxtaposed image of Vit, she is equated to a divine image, which is seen in the lines: “she rises like sunshine” and “Must emerge” . The use of verbs such as “rises” and “emerge” links Vit to the risen again Christ. This shows Annie’s idealisation of Vit since she is making a goddess-like image of her. However, this later contrasts with the line “she does the snake-hips with a hiss” , by using “snake-hips” as a verb here Vit becomes both Eve and the snake. These comparisons, both from Christ and original sin, creates an image of Vit as a femme fatale since she is portrayed as danger under innocence since the reference to the snake comes after the divine image. Brooks also says that Vit “Slops the bad wine across her shantung” ; “shantung” being a silk fabric. This helps to reinforce the image of Vit as a femme fatale as it creates the image of an opulent female such as those from film noir. Brooks explore female sexuality through this as she shows this ‘femme fatale’ as someone to aspire to, which diverges from the usual portrayal of them both in literature and