Introduction
The majesty of poetry is multivalent. Polysemy of words allows its authors to discuss many subjects at the same time. Talented poets are able to raise many themes in several lines and encourage the reader to contemplate over them for a long period. Moreover, due to the richness of the language polysemy as well as symbols and metaphors, any reader can find in the poetry something invisible even for its authors. The reason is that people perceive words and situations through the prism of their worldview and personal experience. The poem “Finding Grace” consists of only 9 lines, although it concerns different life issues. Each reader can notice a part of his own personality in it. The poem raises the issues of hope and despair in the life of people, birth and death, care and leaving, threat and hope. Moreover, it reveals the readers philosophy of life path, which starts from birth and finishes with death. People cannot change their destiny, but despite being sometimes threatening and full of desperation, it has much to offer for one’s joy, hope and continuance. The main theme of the poem is the ability of every living being to renew the hope of life road despite its pain, suffering and losses, it in other words, finding grace.
Calculate the cost of essay
Threat and Death
The first line of “Finding Grace” attracts the readers’ attention due to the word “sink”. There are two heads, which sink in waves. The reader is not sure about their meaning. Do they simply dive and go down below the water surface or there is some kind of danger and a risk of diving to the bottom of the sea? The second line does not answer the previous question since the word “waiting” can have both optimistic and pessimistic meaning in the given context. A husband and a son can leave a woman until the later time. This implies that her time to sink and die has not come yet, or she can just stay without actions and wait until they return from their swimming. Only the third line explains the meaning of the previous ones. The author’s thoughts are pessimistic. The creator of the poem thinks about death of his own mother death. The words “my own mother ending her life” underlines that it was suicide and not natural death. The reader can just assume what life philosophy emerged in the mind of the author at that time. Did he or she contemplate about the threat of waves for woman’s husband and son? Did he or she think how dangerous the life could be? Did he or she want to point that despite the death, there was always someone left to wait in anticipation and hope? Did he or she want to emphasize that while someone strived for life, others willingly killed themselves? Each reader will find the familiar sense in these three lines, which raise the theme of death.
Brining Life and Going Away
The next part of the poem changes the topic. The view of the sea remains in readers’ imagination. However, neither a woman nor her husband and son are the focus of the reflection now. “The great mammals” appear instead of them. The author wonders how they can go away and describes the scenery writing that “coastal lands swallowed by the sea”. The poet does not specify who the leaving great mammals are. They can be sea animals, which swim far into the ocean. They can be a hidden comparison with the personages of father and son who dared to swim so far in the sea and “to sink beneath the waves”. The author underlines the danger of water element mentioning that it can swallow even “coastal lands”. In addition, the word combination “go away” can be used not only directly here. The author may continue the topic of his mother ending her life with it. And comparison of “the great mammals” can be used to describe people in general, whereas “go away” underlines their personal will to leave this world. However, the author reveals many questions for the readers’ contemplation and perception of the poem. Moreover, the 6th line explains more precisely the previously mentioned questions. The poet wonders “how can anyone bring life to this world?” Thus, it becomes obvious that the thoughts about death and life did not leave him or her. He or she further discusses its danger (heads sink, lands swallowed, mother left her child an orphan), pain (a person kills herself), anticipation (woman waits for her family) and, despite everything, continuance of life (mammals go away into sea, new life is brought into this world). The author compares the courage of mammals with the courage of those who gives birth to the new creatures. However, mammals do not accept the sea as danger. They swim far and feel naturally. Those who aim to bring new life do not accept it as a danger, pain and suffering. They undergo it with anticipation and joy. Both of them have found grace.
Birth, Life and Grace
The last third part of the poem is the culmination of the author’s contemplation. His sister is waiting for a baby. The pain of mother’s loss and fear of life danger are substituted with new life beginning. Moreover, anticipation of the new life brings new sense for the author and he or she finds grace. This grace as courageous good will provides the author with inspiration to live. Danger, loss and death often make life hard to bear, but life and birth renew its grace with hope, love, and care. The author wishes to care about his niece and give her more than he or she used to have. He or she is passionate to share all the knowledge with her and, most importantly, fill her life with “hope for the road ahead”. Reviewing the last phrase, it is clear that this hope is extremely valuable for the author, as he or she has just found it, namely grace. At the beginning of the poem, the poet’s thoughts were sad and pessimistic. He or she thought about his mother’s death. Life seemed to be full of pain, danger and lack of hope for him or her. The world lost colors and natural behavior of other living beings who had much passion to life seemed ridiculous. The author wondered “How” they could go away into dangerous sea and bring new lives to the dangerous world. However, while considering the emergence of new life in his or her sister’s womb, the author changes this opinion. Love and desire to care fill the life with blessed grace to enjoy it again and renew “the hope for the road ahead”. Life path starts from birth and ends with death. The latter is devastating and depressed, but the former is much more powerful.
Conclusion
The main theme of the poem “Finding Grace” is the renewal of harmony in humans’ life. When a person faces sufferings, danger, loss of close people, it is difficult for him to survive and not to lose the sense of life. The author’s mother could not renew harmony in her soul and ended her life. Her despair, pain and will to leave made the author sad, depressed and melancholic. However, the birth is stronger than the death. The fact of the author’s sister pregnancy helps him or her to find grace and renew passion to life. He has the experience to overcome despair and decides to fill the life of his niece with hope in order to protect her from sorrow, which ruined his or her mother’s inspiration to life. The author wishes to help her find grace in the same way as he did.
What customers say about our service
