The poem "The grandfather" by ai?

Question

The poem "grandfather says" by Ai

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMI...

-Discuss the relationship between the Visual, Auditory, and Thematic elements.

- the poet uses visual elements of the text, such as enjambment, stanzas or verse-paragraphs, formal lines or informal ones, etc. Why? How does that relate to the experience of reading the poem.

- the poet uses meter and rhyme to establish a varied cadence and pattern of sound. What sort of emphases or direction does that create?

- the themes, images, metaphors, and conceits (extended metaphors) conjure ideas, emotions, and concepts. To what end? And how has the poet used the visual and auditory elements to build on the thematic ones?

Answer 1

Consider these reflections I had:
I have returned to try and give you more reflections about the poem in terms of a running commentary since it appears you want more. Since I've responded to this question elsewhere, you simply take note.
Note that the poet uses all five senses: smell, hear, sight, taste, feel.

A. Auditory: instances of verbal discussion like,
"Sit in my hand."
I'm ten.
-----
"What do you do out there?"
"Where?" I answered.
Then I said, "Oh, play hide-and-seek."

B. Visual: instances of sight like,
I can't see him,
--------
she can't find us

The poet experienced a certain unique feeling when her grandpa touched her when ten playing hide-and-seek with sister.
Thirty five years later when an adult, she experiences that unique feeling when faced with different issues. She flashes back or rewinds her memory to when she was ten and

there I found grandfather waiting,
his hand outstretched to lift me up,
naked and wet
where he rubbed me.

It is as if the present challenges have answers buried deep in memory. There is the theme of "nostalgia" and wistful feelings but note that the speaker said NO and says NO now to this inexplicable state of affairs.
Something happened when the speaker was ten. Something happens thirty five years later. The two are compared and the second has its in the first.


The whole poem is an instance of extended metaphor.

*
RUNNING COMMENTARY

Grandfather Says
by Ai

"Sit in my hand."
I'm ten.
I can't see him,
but I hear him breathing
in the dark.
*Note that the grandpa is the one who speaks those opening lines to the speaker who is ten years old. It is dark and the speaker cannot see him but can feel him breathing Huff..huff..huff!!

It's after dinner playtime.
We're outside,
hidden by trees and shrubbery.
* They've had evening meal and for ten year olds, it's time to play outside the house. Hence they (and sister and grandpa) step out to play by the nearby trees.

He calls it hide-and-seek,
but only my little sister seeks us
as we hide
and she can't find us,
as grandfather picks me up
and rubs his hands between my legs.
* "He" refers to Grandpa. He calls this game "hide and seek" (popular among kids) although the speaker's younger is the only one who plays the seeker. As they are about to hide from little sis so she can't find them, grandpa picks up the speaker and his hands rub between her legs.

I only feel a vague stirring
at the edge of my consciousness.
I don't know what it is,
but I like it.
It gives me pleasure
that I can't identify.
*The speaker only feels the rubbing vaguely at the back of her mind but although she has no idea what it is, it is a pleasant sensation.

It's not like eating candy,
but it's just as bad,
because I had to lie to grandmother
when she asked,
"What do you do out there?"
"Where?" I answered.
*The sensation is not exactly akin to that of candy (this is a simile) but just as bad: seems the speaker often lied if she liked taste of candies! And just as it happens with pleasant taste of candy, she lies to her grandma when she asks, about what she was doing out there. Where?, she replies.

Then I said, "Oh, play hide-and-seek."
She looked hard at me,
then she said, "That was the last time.
I'm stopping that game."
* Oh just playing hide and seek but the grandma looked unconvinced. The she said 'that was the last time. I want to stop that game' (This is a loaded reply, metaphorical, think about it keenly).

So it ended and I forgot.
Ten years passed, thirtyfive,
when I began to reconstruct the past.
* so the game of hide and seek ended and the speaker forgot about it. Ten years passed, then thirty-five when she began to revisit her past.

When I asked myself
why I was attracted to men who disgusted me
I traveled back through time
to the dark and heavy breathing part of my life
I thought was gone,
but it had only sunk from view
into the quicksand of my mind.
*She started wondering why she was attracted to men who disgusted her. (This is the turning point). So she dug deep into her memory to recall everything during her growth into adulthood. She went back, reflectively " through time/
to the dark and heavy breathing part of my life" (Here's metaphor: as if life can breathe). She reflected about part of her life that she thought had gone for good but it was simply hidden from view, just "only sunk from view
into the quicksand of my mind" (another idiom/imagery, metaphor here: aspect of life 'sunk' from view into " the quicksand of my mind".

It was pulling me down
* It refers to this strange memory in her mind as she digs into her past

and there I found grandfather waiting,
his hand outstretched to lift me up,
naked and wet
where he rubbed me.
* And deep there in memory, she encountered her grandpa (ideally just like when she was ten) waiting. His hands were stretched out ready to lift her up as he had done when she was ten. Then, "naked and wet, where he rubbed me" (double meaning here: the granny or that spot he had rubbed?? Think about it)

"I'll do anything for you," he whispered,
"but let you go."
And I cried, "Yes," then "No."
"I don't understand how you can do this to me.
I'm only ten years old,"
and he said, "That's old enough to know."
*The grandpa 'whispers' (note the word choice) he will do everything for her except letting her go away (from him) as he had done when she was ten!! And the speaker cried YES (then when she was ten) but NO (now that she is an adult.

That last line connects so well with the first line.

Grandpa urges:"Sit in my hand."
Speaker: "I don't understand how you can do this to me.
I'm only ten years old,"

Can you unpack it now?? There was an intimate affair between the speaker and her Grandpa. Try to unpack the other meaning.

*
good luck

.

Answer 2

("Grandfather Says")

It uses visual and auditory elements right at the beginning; giving the view of an outside world of nature, through a child's senses.

The enjambment..(lack of any real defined stanzas)...makes the reading flow better, in my opinion. It is a reading that has a sound to it, while reading, which gives it musical characteristics.

The poem has the theme of a young boy in confusion. Being touched by an older figure in his life; and fighting with his thoughts of it. It shows that the child was fighting with her own thoughts, unsure wether or not she wanted to be touched by "the grandfather".

The visual and auditory elements are constantly present. They give an experience of the situation through the writer's (child's) perspective. By showing the personal perspective, it adds feeling to the emotions...helps to display the emotions of the writer while recalling the memory.