Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Flash Cards" by Rita Dove captures the tension between childhood and the pressures of academic performance through the intimate perspective of a young girl dealing with her father's high expectations. The poem juxtaposes the natural, slower pace of the world outside school with the fast-paced, competitive environment encouraged by her father. Dove employs the symbol of flash cards to explore themes of rapid learning, expectation, and the emotional and psychological impact of these pressures on a child.

The poem opens with a declaration of the girl's prowess in mathematics, established through the use of flash cards—tools meant to encourage quick thinking and memorization. Her father, depicted as both a motivator and a source of pressure, believes that mastering the art of quick responses will lead to greater academic success. However, the narrator begins to question the value of such speed in learning, reflecting a mature insight into the practical applications of knowledge in real life, where speed is not always paramount.

This questioning leads to a broader reflection on the nature of learning and the contrast between her structured educational experiences and the organic, unstructured learning observed in nature. The imagery of a single bud on the teacher's geranium and a bee at a window pane symbolizes a world that operates on different principles than those enforced in her academic life. These natural elements are slow, deliberate, and unforced, starkly different from the rapid-fire questions of math flash cards.

The emotional landscape of the poem deepens as the narrator describes her journey home under heavy skies, paralleling her own emotional heaviness. The metaphor of the tulip trees, weighed down by rain, mirrors her burdened state, overwhelmed by the relentless expectations placed upon her. The contrast is poignant between her natural inclination to absorb and reflect like the tulip trees and the imposed rapidity of her academic exercises.

Further complicating this emotional terrain is the depiction of her home life. The father, who relaxes after work, seems oblivious to the emotional toll his academic drilling takes on his daughter. This part of the poem introduces a subtle critique of gender and generational roles within the family. While the father unwinds, the daughter continues to labor under the weight of his expectations, highlighting a disparity in their experiences and the pressures they face.

The poem concludes with a nightmarish vision of the girl "climbing the dark," a metaphor for both the literal act of going to bed and the psychological ascent into a space overwhelmed by the shadows of anxiety and pressure. The haunting repetition of numbers in her dreams reflects the inescapable nature of her father's demands, culminating in her desperate assertion of her age: "I’m only ten." This final line serves as a poignant reminder of her vulnerability and the often overlooked emotional needs of children in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Through "Flash Cards," Rita Dove eloquently critiques the conventional methods of educational motivation that prioritize speed over understanding, and the potential emotional cost of such an approach. The poem is a call to recognize and nurture the natural pace of individual learning and to understand the broader impacts of our expectations on the young.

POEM TEXT: https://pewterbreath.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/poetry-review-rita-dove-flash-cards/

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