Literature Annotations
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Muldoon, Paul |
| Genre | Poem |
| Keywords | Childbirth, Father-Daughter Relationship, Parenthood, Pregnancy |
| Summary | The Birth, appropriately, is the last of the three birth-cycle poems in The Annals of Chile, Muldoon's latest collection. The three together (all annotated in this database--see Sonogram and Footling) celebrate three aspects of the gestation and delivery of the poet's new daughter. Beginning with the poet's donning a scrub suit ("lime-green scrubs"), the poem quickly explodes into a festive pyrotechnics that reminds one of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Joyce: ". . . the windlass-women ply their shears / and gralloch-grub / for a footling foot, then, warming to their task, / haul into the inestimable / realm of apple-blossoms and chanterelles and damsons / and eel-spears. . . . " It takes courage and skill to carry off such a verbal tour de force but Muldoon aptly does so, charging the poem with the newness, sheer power of wonder, and joy of loving a thing for itself that his daughter's birth means to him. This is a joyous poem that can almost visibly demonstrate to students how poetry gets its job done. It may even make more than a few try their hand. |
| Source | The Annals of Chile |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Giroux |
| Edition | 1994 |
| Place Published | New York |
| Annotated by | Ratzan, Richard M. |
| Date of Entry | 05/11/95 |
| Last Revised | 10/17/96 |