summary of the poem Gift
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Answer:
The poem is tender in its portrayal of a father-son relationship. On the literal level, the poem describes a memory where the poet was hurt and his father had eased his pain that left him reverential of his father. ... The poem is an allegory of the spiritual crisis we all face.
Answer:
A transcendent poem on motivation and kindness, ‘The Gift’ achieves that unique outlook of a spiritual holism. The poem takes a holistic approach towards healing, be it physical or spiritual. The poem is tender in its portrayal of a father-son relationship.
On the literal level, the poem describes a memory where the poet was hurt and his father had eased his pain that left him reverential of his father. Later on, he does the same thing in the hour of his wife’s need. He attends to her the same way his father had attended to him. The healing that takes place is physical.
On the metaphorical level, the wound can read as a psychological or a spiritual wound that needs healing. The poem is an allegory of the spiritual crisis we all face. The poet wishes to impart that all non-physical wounds can also be healed with a touch of kindness, sensitivity, and hope. It is this hope that perhaps his father had planted in him, which he, in turn, offers to his wife.
The poem is as much about hope as it is about death. The poet wants to make us aware that death is always around the corner and that it can visit anyone, anywhere, but that shouldn’t injure one’s spirit. A few gestures of tenderness can become a beacon of light, a tiny flame in times of despair. It is interesting to note that a certain aspect of innocence is brought to light in this poem. The poet uses sophisticated and poetic quotes (‘Metal that will bury me’; ‘Ore Going Deep for My Heart’; etc) to negate them. He simply points out that child neither cares for lofty diction nor sophisticated thoughts when hurt or given a gift, the child’s first impulse is to kiss the parent figure, in this case, the father who had gifted him hope and comforted him in his time of pain.