Respond to these 2 answers as a discussion board (100-200 words), your respond should be positive, could include question if you want to. Use your own words 1) What do “Rue,” “Charity,” and “Wintering” say Young’s perspective on grief? Kevin Young paints grief as a transformative experience, one which turns even the most ordinary things into traps of despair and painful remembrances. In the poem “Rue”, the word itself meaning regret or remorse, brings the readers into the mind of Young and his spiral of grief. Young depicts death as a thing which doesn’t seem quite real and which seems to repeat itself because it isn’t real in his mind: “Strange how you keep on/ dying -not once/ then over” (1250.1-3). Conversely, Young also uses the word “death” freely which conflicts with his act of wrestling with this fact. His poem clearly seems to reflect one the infamous stages of grief, that of denial, and his consistent use of the words death and dying become more of a chant, as though he is trying to make the idea real not just a word. The choppy way the poem is sectioned off and the breaks between lines and words show how frazzled and disorganized Young’s thoughts were. He seems to be going around in a circle of knowing that his father is gone to sleeping and then waking to suddenly remember that it is true but not wanting to believe it: “I’d wake/ & you’d be there, gone –” (23). The poem is divided into 2 distinct sentences, ones which are properly punctuated. It’s very important to note that the end of one harried and pain filled first sentence from lines 1 to 29 is where Young’s thoughts seem to turn from the almost circular sound from the beginning to a more stable voice. In this second sentence, he seems to be trying to move forward, “praise among the tile-/ not your dying -/ but having lived” (38-40). Perhaps the act of writing the eulogy helps him to focus less on the death and more on the life of his father. He seems to break away from denial and accept the painful reality, something represented by the children and their “watery shrieks” which echo from a distance (54). “Charity” also deals with the idea of holding on to a person after they have died. Here instead of twisting around in circles of grief and denial, Young instead must deal with the reality of loss. Again, there are constant reminders of his father, this time specifically his old clothes and the people who knew him. Here the structure of the poem is much smoother, not only in flow when read but also in the way it looks on the page. It represents more of a short trip than a circle. Young seems to be clinging to the memory of his father, the life instead of death this time. As he meets the characters in the poem he slowly realizes that he is holding on to things that don’t matter as much. This is represented in the “charity – so rare” he encounters from the people who knew his father (1252.46). In the end, he is able to let go of the clothes, the less important parts of his father. In “Wintering” Young has reached the last stage of grief which is acceptance, but it’s not an easy thing. He realizes that he will never stop grieving. He compares this feeling of continued grief as “gnawing” but that he wishes it will ultimately be “warm - & worn – “ like a quilt (1253.10-12). He knows he will never stop feeling grief and therefore embraces the pain as a new part on himself, like the “white hairs I earned / all that hollowed year” (1254.35-36). This poem is notably dominated by dashes which give the impression of trailing off or continuance. This follows with the idea of continued grief that follows a person for the rest of their life. 2) Unlike the other poems in this album about his son, “Greening” refers to Young’s son after he has been born. In what other ways does this poem differ from “Expecting,” “Quickening,” and “Breaking Water”? In "Greening" it is not just the son already being born but caution, and the son learning is demonstrated here as well, "Son, while you sleep we watch you like a kettle learning to whistle" (7-10). "Breaking Water" talks of the pain of childbirth and how it is part of life and "Greening" demonstrates the son acting slow and graceful, ways of being careful. "Quickening" gives us anticipation of the birth, "When will you arrive to usher us into your arm?" (15-16), while "Greening" gives us what happens after what is being waited on. "Expecting" gives us fear because there was difficulty in locating the son, "The doctor trying to find you, fragile, fern, snowflake" (10-11). "Greening" gives us the parents knowing where their son is and the knowledge gives piece of mind. "Greening" lays to rest the concerns that were broke up in "Expecting", "Quickening", and "Breaking Water".
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