Marilyn Hacker’s Selected Poems 1965-1990 :: Hacker Selected Poems 1965-1990

Marilyn navvys Selected Poems 1965-1990Without question, I found Selected Poems to be the most challenging go for weve read for this class.Strangely enough, in my rush to finish this book, I remained accredited that somewhere in this often unsettling collection Marilyn plug would find a way to touch a cord or demand a response. When I reached Towards Autumn, the picture finally cleared and crystallized, and I realized I had arrived. Towards AutumnThinking of hers (the daughter) like thinking of a loverI commit will some solar day grow to be a friend.I missed the words to fool friends with my mother.--pg 139 At this moment, it retardms that a crossroads has been reached hope for the future coupled with a recognition of past failure. In this case, we see the writer in the role of mother and daughter, simultaneously. What this excerpt does not make clear, however, is the fact that Hacker seems to have spent her life (if one is gear up in assuming the use of I throughout her work is a reference to herself) failing to find the words she needed to connect with others. establish on her inability to find the words in her personal relationships, her triumph in becoming friends with her daughter is uncertain. If one considers the less-than-ideal relationship Hacker divided not only with her mother but also with Iva (see interest excerpt*), we might ask, Is the connection between mothers and daughters cyclical or patrilinear? If cyclical, then one might be inclined to assume Hacker will be unable to realize her goal (to one day be friends with her daughter). *Taking bank note. . . Inanother room, my daughter, home from school, audibly murmurs spanking, stupid, angryvoice--a closet drama where I am played victimised to unresisting dolldaughters. Mother and daughter both, I seemyself, the fiery and unforgivenmyself, the terrified and terriblethe child punished into autonomythe unhealed woman hearing her own voice damn her to the nightmares of the brooding gi rl.--pg. 133 Taking Notice On the other hand, if one ascribes to the lineal school of thought, Hacker may, in fact, be able to break the cycle of her past and create a bridge to her daughter.