The Swan at Edgewater Park – Essay Response
In The Swan at Edgewater Park, Schwartz uses a swan as a fascinating extended metaphor in a way very rarely seen in poetry. It continues through the entire poem, tumbling and reflective, calling light to a life half sad, half hopeful. The characters, too, are a motley mix of qualities, forlorn and shabby but also graceful. The poem is complicated, both in meaning and structure, and I ended up with several varied interpretations. There are threads of life, of Lorie, of the kid, and of the boyfriend, all weaved together in a fascinating but somewhat wild way that makes it tricky to pick up on Schwartz’s exact subject.
To begin with, I found the title intriguing. In and of itself, of course, it simply …show more content…
The same happens in this section of the poem, as the narrator mentions beauty, then elaborates and contradicts and finally carries on into a new thought, all without a full stop. This style, so close to common spoken word, further conveys the impression of a casual, slightly gossip-y conversation.
Schwartz’s writing style makes it difficult to untangle the metaphor at first. She cuts many sentences into fragmented pieces for the reader to pick through. Much like the metaphorical shoreline, the poem is strewn with half-sentences and contrasting imagery (the pristine pond versus the stinking shoreline; the idea of the swan versus the impression of a duck, etc), and the reader must rummage through them, looking for the answer to uncovering Schwartz’s true meaning behind the …show more content…
The description of him in the poem is rather pathetic and pitiful:
“The boyfriend who doesn’t know yet she’s gonna Leave him, washing his car out back – and He’s a runty little guy, and drinks too much, and It’s not his kid anyway, but he loves her, he Really does, he loves them both – ” (lines 18-22)
Similarly, the description of the swan, swimming “Into the body of a Great Lake, / Swilling whatever it is swans swill, / Chardonnay of algae with bouquet of crud,” (lines 6-8), evokes pity from the reader, a sense that the swan deserves more. Such is my attitude toward the boyfriend; he may drink too much, his own chardonnay of life’s disappointments, but he sure has quite a bit of love in himself – and why else would one stay in an atmosphere as potentially damaging as his? The swan must love its home, to stay throughout this
In The Swan at Edgewater Park, Schwartz uses a swan as a fascinating extended metaphor in a way very rarely seen in poetry. It continues through the entire poem, tumbling and reflective, calling light to a life half sad, half hopeful. The characters, too, are a motley mix of qualities, forlorn and shabby but also graceful. The poem is complicated, both in meaning and structure, and I ended up with several varied interpretations. There are threads of life, of Lorie, of the kid, and of the boyfriend, all weaved together in a fascinating but somewhat wild way that makes it tricky to pick up on Schwartz’s exact subject.
To begin with, I found the title intriguing. In and of itself, of course, it simply …show more content…
The same happens in this section of the poem, as the narrator mentions beauty, then elaborates and contradicts and finally carries on into a new thought, all without a full stop. This style, so close to common spoken word, further conveys the impression of a casual, slightly gossip-y conversation.
Schwartz’s writing style makes it difficult to untangle the metaphor at first. She cuts many sentences into fragmented pieces for the reader to pick through. Much like the metaphorical shoreline, the poem is strewn with half-sentences and contrasting imagery (the pristine pond versus the stinking shoreline; the idea of the swan versus the impression of a duck, etc), and the reader must rummage through them, looking for the answer to uncovering Schwartz’s true meaning behind the …show more content…
The description of him in the poem is rather pathetic and pitiful:
“The boyfriend who doesn’t know yet she’s gonna Leave him, washing his car out back – and He’s a runty little guy, and drinks too much, and It’s not his kid anyway, but he loves her, he Really does, he loves them both – ” (lines 18-22)
Similarly, the description of the swan, swimming “Into the body of a Great Lake, / Swilling whatever it is swans swill, / Chardonnay of algae with bouquet of crud,” (lines 6-8), evokes pity from the reader, a sense that the swan deserves more. Such is my attitude toward the boyfriend; he may drink too much, his own chardonnay of life’s disappointments, but he sure has quite a bit of love in himself – and why else would one stay in an atmosphere as potentially damaging as his? The swan must love its home, to stay throughout this