The Victory By Anne Stevenson Essay, Research Paper

& # 8221 ; I thought you were my triumph /though you cut me like a knife & # 8221 ;

( Stevenson 1-2 )

The gap lines of Anne Stevenson & # 8217 ; s poem The Victory set a tone

of struggle. This verse form, at its surface, expresses a female parent & # 8217 ; s ideas

on giving birth to a boy. Stevenson describes the assorted feelings many

female parents have upon the bringing of their first born. The concluding release

from gestation and parturition strivings, coupled with the exhilaration of

conveying a unrecorded animal into this universe, at first seem a triumph to

the new parent. The writer goes on to disprove the event as a triumph.

Using words such as & # 8220 ; adversary & # 8221 ; ( 5 ) , & # 8220 ; contusion & # 8221 ; ( 6 ) , and & # 8220 ; chilling & # 8221 ; ( 13 ) ,

she shows the darker side of childbearing. The female parent has felt her ain

life & # 8217 ; s blood flowing that a alien might populate & # 8220 ; The discolorations of your

glorification bled from my veins. & # 8221 ; ( 6-8 ) . That she sees her ain kid as a

alien is apparent in lines nine and ten, where the kid is

described as a & # 8220 ; blind thing & # 8221 ; ( 9 ) with & # 8220 ; clean insect eyes & # 8221 ; ( 10 ) . The

female parent portrays her babe as a bug, non even human. In the last subdivision

of the verse form, two inquiries are asked, certifying to the female parent & # 8217 ; s

internal struggle. & # 8220 ; Why do I have to love you? / How hold you won? & # 8221 ;

( 15-16 ) . These unanswerable questions are some of the cardinal

inquiries of our human being.

Below the topmost bed of significance in The Victory, is an

underlying subject that any parent or defender will easy associate to.

Childs are born out of the great pain their female parents endure. They are

helpless in one sense, yet they command the attention of their parents.

Stevenson describes the intrinsic weakness of babies with the

words & # 8220 ; Blind & # 8221 ; ( 9 ) and & # 8220 ; Hungry & # 8221 ; ( 14 ) . Yet, this verse form does non mention to

new born babes entirely. Birthing strivings do non discontinue with the bringing of

a kid. The struggle described in this verse form is felt by parents of

grownup kids as good. All parents give of their lifeblood, at least

in the emotional sense, in raising and keeping their progeny.

The Victory is a poem written as if by a female parent on

ly merely delivered of

a new born boy, yet the subjects expressed in its lines use to all the

phases of human life. Stevenson seems to emphasize the hurting that is felt

when one life brings Forth another, but there are many strivings felt by

parents in ways unphysical. & # 8220 ; You barb the air. /You biting with bladed

calls & # 8221 ; ( 11-12 ) these are crisp words that conveying ideas of touchable

hurting. These words besides describe mental and emotional hurting that is

felt by many parents who sacrifice much for their kids. The verse form

does non put a guilt on the babe nor, hence on kids in

general. It seems to admit the convulsion of birth and life as

natural. The kid who is born today, collects the forfeit of its

parents and will do forfeits for the kid born tomorrow. Even

though The Victory is worded to sound resentful, as though the female parent

begrudges her child his new found life, it besides has a resigned tone.

The female parent accepts her batch, nevertheless painful.

Even deeper into this verse form is the intimation of feminism. The writer

take the sex of this babe deliberately. She used two mentions to a

knife, bespeaking hurting inflicted in a mode unnatural. The knife has

traditionallybeen a adult male & # 8217 ; s arm. & # 8220 ; Tiny antagonist & # 8221 ; ( 9 ) could mention to

the full male gender. & # 8220 ; Scary knot of desires & # 8221 ; ( 13 ) is a mention to

the sex act, which is sometimes seen as male aggression. The kid is

the manifestation of this act. & # 8220 ; Hungry snarl! Small son. & # 8221 ; ( 14 ) the usage

of an animalistic noise straight precedes the disclosure of the babe & # 8217 ; s

gender. Once once more Stevenson & # 8217 ; s pick of words reminds one of male

aggression. The adult female in the verse form seems to experience cheated in bearing a

male kid to the adult male who is indirectly responsible for her status.

Why does she hold to love him? Does that sum up the predicament of adult female?

Is it Eve & # 8217 ; s cuss that adult female shall encompass adult male, though in so making she

must endure childbearing to convey away more work forces? ( Or girls who

shall endure similarly. ) Is that how he has won? The Victory asks us

these inquiries. They can non be answered.

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