what is the theme of the poem Point of view by Baderoon
Answers
Answer:
The poem “This is what I’ll remember” by Gabeba Baderoon is a poem written from protest to post-apartheid era. It is a poem reflecting the poet’s contemplation of the memory of her relationship with her mother up until the point in time of her mother’s death. In this essay I will first discuss how Gabeba Baderoon explores the idea of memory throughout the poem, I will secondly discuss how she also reflects on the way in which we make sense of significant events in our lives, lastly I will discuss the significance of the poets relationship with her mother in relation to the exploration of memory and significant events in our lives.
The poem begins with an unclear title “This is what I’ll remember”, unclear in the sense that the term “this” as used in the title is not made clear to the reader as to what it is referred to. The exploration thus begins in the first line of the first stanza of the poem in which the imagery of “mist” (Baderoon, in Carolin 2014:l.1) “in the park” (Baderoon, in Carolin 2014:l.1) is used to introduce the uncertainty or rather not so clear but present memory that “brings slow clarity” (Baderoon, in Carolin 2014:l.2) of the memory the poet is trying to remember. As the poets memory is constructed, she begins to remember the things that have never changed and continues to cherish and celebrate like a memorialisation of a “statue” (Baderoon, in Carolin 2014:l.5) as a symbol of a memory forever commemorated and the poet reflects on those memories of the events of her life that were given “the open spaces…” to change over time. Memory is also explored by the poet through season change when “the trees show the last of their colour” (Baderoon, in Carolin 2014:ll.7-8) she sees herself get older and her life and tho...