(There is a languid, emerald sea,
where the sole inhabitant is me-
a mermaid drifting blissfully.)
1) Why does the speaker wish to be the sole inhabitant of the sea?
2) Why is the stanza given in brackets?
3) What is the message conveyed by the poet through the poem?
Answers
Answer:
Answer: Amanda wishes to be a mermaid so she could drift alone by blissfully languid, emerald sea. She yearns to be an orphan so that she is able to roam the sea and make pattern using her bare feet. ... Amanda wishes to be these so that she could avoid her suffocating reality.
These questions are from the poem 'Amanda' by Robert Klein.
The speaker is a teenaged girl Amanda who is tired of being nagged by her mother. She wants to be all by herself, so that she can have some peace. Being the 'sole inhabitant' of the sea would mean that there would be no one around to give her instructions and disturb her. Her wish to be a mermaid shows her strong desire to escape from her mother's continuous instructions and also her inclination towards fairy tales.
The stanza is in brackets because it indicates Amanda's inner most thoughts. The stanzas that are not in brackets show the reality of Amanda's mother correcting her constantly, while the stanzas in brackets show Amanda's reactions to her mother's behaviour. The poet has differentiated between the actual incidents and Amanda's thoughts.
The poem conveys messages at two levels- to children and to parents. To begin with, the poet feels that it is natural for mothers all across the world to keep a constant check on their children. And in the case of girls, mothers go a step further and ensure that they are graceful and elegant. There is undue pressure put on girls to behave in a particular way.
Additionally, the poet sends out a strong message to all parents to give space to children and allow them some time during which they are not nagged.
Further, the poet offers children a temporary solution. Children can use their imagination to escape from reality for a short time. The poet also seeks to tell children that they are not alone. Children across the world feel the same way.
More on the poem 'Amanda' :
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