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omnipoetics:the_father_of_my_country [2025/04/15 17:41] – [Diane Wakoski] maryomnipoetics:the_father_of_my_country [2025/04/24 00:43] (current) – admin
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-====== The Father of My Country ====== +====== The Father of My Country by Diane Wakoski ====== 
-Written by Diane Wakoski+
  
 From her //Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962-1987// collection. From her //Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962-1987// collection.
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 Rothenberg would later go on to classify Wakoski as a deep image poet, which was a term created by Rothenberg  and Robert Kelly in 1961 to describe “stylized, resonant poetry that operated according to the Symbolist theory of correspondences, which posited a connection between the physical and spiritual realms.” ((“Deep Image.” //Poetry Foundation//, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/deep-image)) Rothenberg was deeply influenced by the Spanish //cante jondo//, or deep song, in the works of Frederico Garcia Lorca. Included in this genre were the works of Rothenberg, Kelly, Wokoski, and Clayton Eshlemen. Rothenberg would later go on to classify Wakoski as a deep image poet, which was a term created by Rothenberg  and Robert Kelly in 1961 to describe “stylized, resonant poetry that operated according to the Symbolist theory of correspondences, which posited a connection between the physical and spiritual realms.” ((“Deep Image.” //Poetry Foundation//, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/deep-image)) Rothenberg was deeply influenced by the Spanish //cante jondo//, or deep song, in the works of Frederico Garcia Lorca. Included in this genre were the works of Rothenberg, Kelly, Wokoski, and Clayton Eshlemen.
  
-Wakoski’s poetry by itself is described as being both personal and mythical as she tends to create mythic personas out of “archetypal figures” like George Washington as is featured in this poem. Her poetry is typically unconventional in form as it relies neither on a consistent rhythm, rhyme, or conventional structures to guide its poetics. She has additionally been criticized for her often “controversial” topics and “talky” poetics.+Wakoski’s poetry by itself is described as being both personal and mythical as she tends to create mythic personas out of “archetypal figures” like George Washington as is featured in this poem. Her poetry is typically unconventional in form as it relies neither on a consistent rhythm, rhyme, or conventional structures to guide its poetics. She has additionally been criticized for her often “controversial” topics and “talky” poems.
  
 Wakoski explains her unique style in the following passage: Wakoski explains her unique style in the following passage:
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 The form of the poem "Father of My Country" is a confessional, meaning that it delves into a personal matter of the speaker: dealing with the loss of a connection to her father. The poem feels very intimate, as Wakoski brings the readers directly into the experience, which ranges from the speaker being under two years old to being "a lonely woman, without a purpose" later in life (682). The form of the poem "Father of My Country" is a confessional, meaning that it delves into a personal matter of the speaker: dealing with the loss of a connection to her father. The poem feels very intimate, as Wakoski brings the readers directly into the experience, which ranges from the speaker being under two years old to being "a lonely woman, without a purpose" later in life (682).
  
-A key element of the form is the variety of line lengths. Many of the lines are short, emphasizing the bluntness of the speaker, along with the severity of the grief she is carrying from childhood. For example, early on in the poem, the speaker talks about still carrying the legacy of her father with her:+A key element of the form is the variety of line lengths. Many of the lines are short, emphasizing the bluntness of the speaker, along with the severity of the grief she is carrying from childhood. For example, early in the poem, the speaker talks about still carrying the legacy of her father with her:
  
-<blockquote>It is your blood I carry in a test tube,+<blockquote>Is it your blood I carry in a test tube,
  
 my arm, my arm,
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 ====== Imagery: The Power Behind Loss ====== ====== Imagery: The Power Behind Loss ======
-Wakoski uses powerful imagery throughout the poem to describe the loss the narrator feels later in life from her father leaving during early childhood, while serving in the Navy. One example is when the speaker describes associations she has with her father: " . . . Father I have left in my steel filing cabinet as a name on my birth certificate . . . Father living in my wide cheekbones and short feet, Father in my Polish tantrums and my American speech . . ." (681). The juxtaposition between the speaker at first only acknowledging her Father's name on her birth certificate to then seeing her father in herself through both looks and actions shows the extent to which a lack of a fatherly figured impacted her life. This idea is strengthened later in the poem through comparisons made between the speaker's experiences and those of children whose fathers were present during childhood: +Wakoski uses powerful imagery throughout the poem to describe the loss the narrator feels later in life from her father leaving during early childhood, while serving in the Navy. One example is when the speaker describes associations she has with her father: " . . . Father I have left in my steel filing cabinet as a name on my birth certificate . . . Father living in my wide cheekbones and short feet, Father in my Polish tantrums and my American speech . . ." (681). The juxtaposition between the speaker at first only acknowledging her father's name on her birth certificate to then seeing her father in herself through both looks and actions shows the extent to which a lack of a fatherly figure impacted her life. This idea is strengthened later in the poem through comparisons made between the speaker's experiences and those of children whose fathers were present during childhood: 
  
 <blockquote>. . . other children said, 'My father is a doctor,' <blockquote>. . . other children said, 'My father is a doctor,'

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