Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lynn Emanuel’s poem "When Father Decided He Did Not Love Her Anymore" is a poignant exploration of memory and its elusive, often deceptive qualities. Through the lens of a nostalgic recollection, the poem navigates through themes of loss, desire, and the transformative power of art. Emanuel uses vivid imagery and a sense of wistfulness to portray the complexity of personal history and the impact of family dynamics.

The poem opens with the speaker's intention to recall a model with a "wide, sad mouth" who used to pose for the father, suggesting an intimate and possibly disruptive presence in their household. The phrase "I love the dangers of memory" immediately introduces the notion that delving into the past is a risky, potentially unsettling endeavor, hinting at the dual nature of memories as both precious and perilous.

The environment described in the poem is filled with visual and sensory detail that enhances the feeling of a dimly remembered past: "Rooms where one bare bulb / Makes shadows swell up the wall." This setting of obscured and exaggerated features mirrors the nature of memory itself—distorted, shadowy, and incomplete. Emanuel captures the essence of trying to grasp the slippery details of the past, as the speaker admits to only vaguely recalling the sound of the model’s hem, which they poetically describe as rustling "like sand against tin."

The use of the French phrase "Laisse-moi tranquille, epicier," which translates to "Leave me alone, grocer," adds an element of desire for privacy or peace, perhaps from the intrusions of memory or the demands of the past. It’s a line attributed to the hem of the dress, anthropomorphizing it to give voice to the speaker's internal emotions, and reflecting the speaker’s need to control how they remember the past, wanting it to be "something memorable."

The model, referred to as Ramona, represents a figure of fascination and intrigue, woven into the fabric of the speaker’s childhood experiences. The mention of the father feeding the speaker absinthe "through a sugar cube" to induce sleep reveals a disturbing undertone, suggesting a manipulation of reality and consciousness, paralleling how memories can be distorted or selectively recalled.

The poem then transitions into a more abstract contemplation of art and memory. Emanuel describes memory as "a bolt of silk / In a tailor’s arms," a powerful metaphor that portrays memory as both luxurious and malleable, capable of being shaped into various narratives or garments. This idea is expanded with the mention that memory can be crafted into "misfortune," highlighting the potential for memories to morph into narratives that carry a heavy emotional burden.

The final stanzas dive deeper into the figure of Ramona, whose life takes on a mythical, almost tragic dimension as she spends a year in "wrath almost Biblical." This description, coupled with her isolation "so far from the world / Not even the moon could find / Her study in Paris," paints her as a lost soul, consumed by her own inner turmoil, inaccessible even to the celestial bodies.

"When Father Decided He Did Not Love Her Anymore" is a richly woven tapestry of past and present, where the act of remembering becomes an act of creation, and the figures from the past haunt the landscape of the present. Emanuel skillfully navigates the intersections of memory, art, and emotion, revealing the profound ways in which our recollections shape and redefine our understanding of ourselves and our histories.

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