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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
"A Daughter's Fever" by David Bottoms is a deeply moving and vividly descriptive poem that captures a moment of quiet tension and tender concern. The poem navigates through the emotional landscape of a father watching over his sick daughter, weaving together the external tranquility of a rainy morning with the internal turmoil of parental worry. The poem opens with an image of "dark ivy" drawing "a wave across the yard," immediately setting a scene that is both natural and slightly foreboding. The mention of "shadows / streaked with rain" and "light drizzles" on "oak leaves" places the reader in a serene yet somber environment, reflective of the father's mood as he "rock[s] behind this screen, listening to squirrels, the bickering of jays." The natural world continues undisturbed, juxtaposed against the quiet drama unfolding within the house. The contrast between the external calm and the internal anxiety is further highlighted by the references to the early morning garbage truck and the neighbor's child, emphasizing the ordinariness of the world outside, in contrast to the father's vigil. The line "Three hours of crying lit the windows next door, but now you lie as quiet as the rain" captures the transition from distress to a fragile peace, mirroring the shift from night to dawn. The heart of the poem lies in the father's recounting of the "dozen books" and the imaginative journey he and his daughter embarked upon "from piano to puppets, to the cardboard frog on his pond of cut wool." This narrative within the poem serves as a metaphor for the father's efforts to comfort and protect his daughter, to guide her through the darkness of illness back to health. The mention of "Rachel, about the little girl who started home late across the darkening woods..." introduces a fairy tale-like story used by the father to soothe his daughter. The woods represent the unknown and the dangerous, paralleling the fear and uncertainty of illness. The father's promise to someday give his daughter "the words [he] used all night to guide her home" speaks to the power of storytelling and language as means of guidance and reassurance. The poem concludes with a hopeful turn, "But happily that's another ending." The image of the daughter sleeping peacefully "in her cottage near the town" under a "basket of cornflowers" suggests a return to safety and normalcy. The father's watchful presence, "new light clothe[s] the trees" in his orchard, and the small fingers curled around his, symbolize a bond of protection and love that transcends the fear and helplessness of the night. "A Daughter's Fever" is a poignant exploration of paternal love, the anxieties of caregiving, and the restorative power of nature and narrative. Bottoms masterfully blends the external and internal, the universal and the personal, to craft a poem that resonates with anyone who has watched over a loved one through the night, hoping for the dawn.
| Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SIX LOVE POEMS: 1 by DAVID IGNATOW MY PARENTS HAVE COME HOME LAUGHING by MARK JARMAN BIRTHDAY (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) by ROBINSON JEFFERS LOOKING IN AT NIGHT by MARY KINZIE THE VELVET HAND by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY CURRICULUM VITAE by LISEL MUELLER CIVILIZING THE CHILD by LISEL MUELLER MISSING THE DEAD by LISEL MUELLER TO MY CLASS: ON CERTAIN FRUITS AND FLOWERS SENT ... SICKNESS by SIDNEY LANIER |
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