Poem Outline for Pathedy of Manners

Poem Outline for Pathedy of Manners

Thesis: Through point of view the author gives a summary of a woman’s life as she views it. This gives a somewhat slanted opinion of what occurs during this woman’s life. The author illustrates a contrast from when the woman was a young adult to a middle aged woman. She creates this sentiment by creating symbols that reflect specific parts of the woman’s life.

Point of View: The life of this woman is told from a bystander, who seems to be observing the change in the life this woman lives.

-“At twenty she was brilliant and adored” (line 1)

The first line is reminiscent of the past, and it appears that the point of view is told from a woman who knew the girl in the poem, but not at a personal level. The opinion of the poem is from someone who observed the girl and knew of her, but was not actually friends with her. This is important because it is not the girl in the poem defining who she was, but someone doing that for her.

-“I saw her yesterday at forty-three, Her children gone, her husband one year dead” (line 17-18).

The author’s point of view is important in this line because her tone is not one of surprise but comes across as someone who knew this would be the woman’s fate. It was as if she expected the woman to end up alone all along.

Contrast: The poem is made up of seven stanzas and at the fourth stanza there begins to be a change in tone. In the first three stanzas, she is the girl who has everything, in the fourth stanza the flaws of her life are beginning to be shown, and in the last three stanzas it appears that she is not happy with her life, and that everything did not turn out as she had planned.

-“She hung up her diploma, went abroad, Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry” (line 9-10).

In this line it illustrates that this young woman is creating a life and that she has a direction of where she is moving to. The woman appears to be happy and she has the world at her fingertips.

-“But afraid to wonder what she might have known With all that wealth and mind had offered her” (line 21-22).

These two lines are from the 6^th stanza, and this is part of the contrast in the poem. The woman described in these lines is not the same girl from earlier stanzas. This woman looks back at her life with regret, and she does not see the life that she had envisioned as a young girl. At the same time she does not reflect on her life because she is scared of what she is going to see. This woman is no longer brave, but she is scared of the live she has lived.

Symbol: In the poem the author makes symbols to represent who the girl is attempting be, and most importantly who she want to be.

-“Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance” (line 2).

“Phi Beta Kappa” is a sorority and is also a symbol to a young girl who is happy and enjoys life This line is significant because this represents the overall girl in the first three stanzas. She is outgoing and is constantly around people.

-“And learned to tell real Wedgewood from a fraud” (line 12).

This line makes a reference to “Wedgewood” which is a type of China plates. In this line it is important that the girl had to learn which plate is “real Wedgewood”.  She did not know which plate was which until she taught herself. This illustrates that the girl is working her way up to be part of a lifestyle she was not born into.  “Wedgewood” is a symbol of the life she wants.