LeahM

=Leah M.'s Analysis:= QWERTYU // Mulberry Fields // QWERTY The poem //Mulberry Fields//, by Lucille Clifton, is initially very confusing. It wasn’t until after I had read it through at least three times that I began to make sense of it. //Mulberry Fields// is unlike any other poetry I’ve read, with its lack of both rhyme and meter. The lack of punctuation and seemingly random breakup of lines also make it quite difficult to understand. However, all of these elements serve a purpose: not only is //Mulberry Fields// a modern poem, it conveys deeper messages of both despair and hope than are seen at first glance. QWERTY My first inclination is to focus on the subject of the poem. Lucille Clifton is known for writing poems about the things close to her: her family, her race, and her past. Clifton’s focus in this poem is of slavery. In lines 11-13, QWERT “i say that somewhere under QWERT There moulders one called alice whose great grandson is old now QWERT too and refuses to talk about slavery” she implies the effect slavery can have on a person, so much that they might “refuse to talk about” it. She also mentions the “manor and “state house” (lines 6 and 7), both of which are names often applied to homes of slave owners. This leads us to line 14, where there is only one place set at the “masters table,” which suggests that there has been a death or loss in the family. This poem is about much more than just slavery though. I divide it into three somewhat overlapping parts (lines 2-7 and 9-10, lines 10-15, and lines 1, 8, and 15-17). QWERTY The first section (lines 2-7 and 9-10) discusses the gathering of rocks and formation of new objects. This section suggests hope when Clifton writes “the rocks went to build that wall…and some few were used for the state house” (lines 6-7); the building of both protection, and a home. The first part also talks about the creation of a new language, long ago, which is scratched into rocks “with triangles and other forms” (line 4). Clifton goes onto confirm that a language, with the name of “eternity” (line 9), is written on the stones, all of which “pointed toward the river” (line 10). QWERTY The second section (lines 10-15) is almost the opposite of the first section: instead of hope, it focuses on unhappiness. Lines 10 and 11 discuss the lack of sleep in the big house, perhaps referring to something unpleasant on the minds of those who live there. This unpleasant matter could be the slavery which once took place on the property where they live. Alice, the one who “somewhere under/ here moulders” (lines 11-12) was most likely a slave at one point, noting that her great grandson remembers slavery himself. This gives one a sense of time as well, because of the old age of Alice’s great grandson. The line saying that the master of the house is now all alone with “only one plate…set for supper,” gives me the feeling of loneliness and despair. This is only reinforced further as the speaker references back to the fields where the rocks where gathered, in “i say no seed/ can flourish on this ground,” speaking of the desolation of the area (lines 14-15). QWERTY These fields become the main idea of the final section, although the section itself is split up throughout the entirety of //Mulberry Fields//. The first line, “they thought the field was wasting,” leads into the first section in which they try to improve the fields by removing all of the stones. Unfortunately, this is not effective seeing as later “crops refused to grow” (line 8). The last three lines (15-17) are the turn of //Mulberry Fields//; although crops wouldn’t grow on the field, berries—which are presumably mulberry—would. These lines also tell us why crops can’t grow on that land in the first place: in the literal sense, it is a graveyard for Alice and other slaves. Figuratively, it was the site of work for many slaves, and consequentially is unfit for any good use. The ending of this poem, “bloom how you must i say” (line 17) portrays a scene of hope. The fact that the berries are able to grow where nothing else could tells us that nothing should be forced to grow against its will; if left alone, it will flourish and prosper (another possible reference to the abolition of slavery). QWERTY The plot of Mulberry Fields is not as complicated as it might seem; it’s the style that turns it into a challenge. Lucille Clifton is known for her free-flowing poetry, without capitalization, punctuation, rhyme, or meter. This is an apparent attempt to put the focus on the subject matter, rather than the format or mechanics of //Mulberry Fields//. With this in mind, we approach the extended spacing of lines 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 15. In all of these places, the spacing marks the beginning of a new stanza or thought. It is unclear why Clifton decided to use spacing rather than simply starting a new line. However, there is a sense of repetition in the second section where all of the spaces precede the words “i say.” This repetition is the connecting factor of //Mulberry Fields//. Without this, it can be difficult to determine the identity of the speaker. QWERTY Although //Mulberry Fields// is at times difficult to understand, it manages to pull through and tie together once the subject matter is understood. Clifton is at her finest in this work, discussing not only the sad past, but also the new hope for the future, with a field full of berries who “bloom how [they] must” (line 17).

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