[показать]Write an explication of the poem “Parting” (see below), considering such elements as rhyme scheme, figures of speech, meaning, and overall effect.

Each year in the after-Christmas tinsel
of the airport lounge you see them
standing like toys that have been
wound up once or twice and then
shunted aside. Mother, father,
whose bodies time has thickened
to pudding, resolute daughter,
stylish and frightened.
That small constellation,
that commonplace a grouping.

They are done with speaking.
They do not weep.
They do not touch one another except
after the final boarding call
when they are fastened all
three as in a dangerous struggle
exploding only as she
is drawn into the silver belly of the jet
and shot from the parents
and this is the celestial arrangement.

The poem “Parting” by Maxine Kumin is a melancholic take on the winter holiday season. The author describes an image of parting between relatives that can be often seen in the airports during this time of the year. While it is always wonderful to see one’s family when they do not live nearby, these rare encounters are a bitter-sweet experience because they make people realize how much they are skipping on by not staying together. Faces of the parents that get more wrinkly or ones of the nieces and nephews that look more mature serve as yet another reminder of how fast the time flies and, most importantly, of the fact that much of this time is spent apart from each other: Each year …/ you see them / standing like toys that have been / wound up once or twice and then / shunted aside”. These moments of partying are not easy ones because they are awkward for everybody involved. Not to upset the other person, all participants of a farewell try their best to pretend that everything is going to be alright, and that life will get back to normal as soon plane takes off. They work not less hard trying to persuade themselves that this is exactly what is going to happen. It is only at the very last moment that they realize how many more things they have forgotten to say, or maybe simply start looking desperately for the means of delaying the inevitable good-bye.

The author of this poem chooses to write in a free form, which means that the poem has neither a rime nor a basic meter. Usually, authors who rely on this type of form employ other means of sustaining and engaging the reader’s attention, such as unexpectedly breaking of a line to emphasize a certain word, as well as to have a greater control of the shape of the poem and its look on the page. Even though, in theory, this form of poetry sounds interesting and there are many excellent examples of it usage, despite having found its message to be an interesting one, I wouldn't call “Partying” a great example of this genre. Many of the line breaks, for example, are put in the most unfortunate places and, instead of adding to the poem, make it more difficult to understand and enjoy. Finally, because of the lack of any creative poetic techniques that could have compensated for the absence of rhyme, I believe that the same message could have been much better conveyed in prose. While I agree that rhyme is far from being a necessary instrument of creating a beautiful poem, one cannot do nothing but break off the line in strange places and call it one.