Grandmother

Poet: Ray Young Bear

Objectives

to be able to describe features which allow us to present a picture of appearance;
to be able to assimilate love in the form of tribute and respect and honourable intimacy; and
to be able to value the role of ancient generation upon building of new generation
Interpretation and Analysis of the poem in detail

Background

The Poet belongs to Mosqueki Tribe in America known as Red Indian. The poem is composed
by Ray to celebrate the natural, pure, loving and inspiring quality of grandmother of his tribe.
The Grand mother is of all members of his tribe in the sense that the features and belongings
as well as virtues said to be of grandmother represent common typical qualities of Mosqueki
grandmother.  In real sense, it presents a grand picture of high respect and self identity of the
poet’s grandmother, a whole source of life and living values.

Interpretation

The possessions as red scarf and plastic shopping bag are the usual objects the Mosqueki
grandmothers are associated with in their daily simple living. The other attributes as her hands
showering natural touch and soft feelings with natural fragrance of roots and shoots of plants
display intensive affinity and inheritance of natural purity as the distinct values pouring the
Mosqueki tribe mothers and grandmothers with their own type identity embedded with natural
virtues. Most important impression the speaker relates about his grandmother is of her distinct
voice that still echoes from the grave and runs right into his heart and mind awakening him for
that future when he can freely covet for pleasant living with the feeling of self dignity without
disparaging the natural attributes of his grandmother that make her a super soul and grand figure
teaching him and inspiring him to be faithful to humanity and one’s lineage. These are the
sources of life and inspiration for the speaker that he derives from his grandmother as the only
one and unique above all.

Analysis and appreciation of the poem

The poem is written in simple verse pattern and each stanza is designed to describe each distinct
feature and possession of grandmother such as her get up, her body shape and size, her hands and
manners of feeling for inter personal sharing of feelings and her voice in the last stanza.

The first stanza presents an image of her grandmother’s appearance. She looks distinct and self
identified to the speaker because, she is ever wearing a red scarf and often has a plastic shopping
bag when on outing. Her body is identical to the speaker’s body in colour and shape as he
himself is the descendent of the grandmother her own tribe and generation.  The purple scarf and
the plastic shopping bag both remind of simple living the grand mother is the role model of. This
is visual image and it appeals to the visual sense i.e. eyes and inner eyes of mind.

The second stanza presents an image of feeling and smell. This describes grandmother as having
the quality of natural feelings like warmth and dampness. These are so life like for the speaker
and his generation because warmth and dampness make it possible for life to sustain as cold and
hard are antonyms of warmth and damp. This stands for the natural attribute of grandmother ;
purity and source of life with good feelings and feelings of altruism (love, respect and welfare).

The third image in the same stanza is of smell or fragrance. The grandmother’s hands and body
release natural smell of roots and shoots. This shows that she is the replica of pure nature that
grows out of pure soil with dampness. Her closeness with nature’s fragrance is evident when
the speaker feels her hands on his head. The fragrance appeals to the sense of smell like nose
and reminds him of the power of root in helping the generations of trees to grow. Besides, root
smelling is the attribute adding to the quality of closeness and attraction. This image also makes
the grandmother distinct in the speaker’s perception.

  In the third and fourth stanza, he articulates how distinct and powerful grandmother’s voice
is which enables him to listen even from the distance of her grave, an indication to nostalgic
reference because the speaker feels that though his grandmother is no longer with him in her
physical existence, her memory fills him with magnificent inspiration and in this connection
her voice is the most powerful tool for him to awaken his sense and spirit for future living. The
distinctness and purity of his grandmother is what is regarded to be the super most value for the
poet in real sense. Her voice is compared with the quality of a sparkle of sleeping fire that is
stirred at night which amazingly lightens the surrounding due to its strength and overshadowing
darkness. He compares his generation to be overshadowed by the darkness of modernity but his
grandmother is the only source of purifying the speaker’s today’s generation.

Message to the Readers

In this way, the poem grandmother is a full picture of a pure, loving and inspiring grandmother
of the tribe called to be Mosqueki, the aboriginal tribe of USA.  This is also a concrete example
of nostalgic literature that celebrates the past values in a manner present has lost them and so,
they are to be regained. This kind of love is to be treated as being one sphere of love associated
with respect and expression of submissiveness for pure expression of honour and tribute for
elderly generations whose path finding is the only source of life and survival for the coming
generation. Hence the message is that new generation must ever strive to appreciate the
contribution of the old generation as our guiding teachers helping us to see future living.