Who in One Lifetime
By Muriel Rukeyser
Muriel Rukeyser
What kind of poem is it?
Mark the rhymes.
Who in one lifetime sees all causes lost, A �Herself dismayed and helpless, cities down, B�Love made monotonous fear and the sad-faced A�Inexorable armies and the falling plane, B�Has sickness, sickness. Introspective and whole. C�She knows how several madnesses are born, D�Seeing the integrated never fighting well, C�The flesh too vulnerable, the eyes tear-torn. D
She find a pre-surrender on all sides: E�Treaty before the war, ritual impatience turn F�The camps of ambush to chambers of imagery. G�She hold belief in the world, she stays and hides E�Life in her own defeat, stands, though her whole world burn F�A childless goddess of fertility. G
Who in one lifetime sees all causes lost,�Herself dismayed and helpless, cities down,�Love made monotonous fear and the sad-faced enjambment�Inexorable armies and the falling plane,�Has sickness, sickness. �
Epizeuxis: a word or phrase repeated with NO intervening words emphasizes the desperation of the situation.
Fricative Alliteration creates a harsh physical sound, echoing the words themselves. Liquid Alliteration shows us that these losses have flowed through her life consistently.
Speaker The opening of the poem suggest that the speaker and writer are one in the same. The poem opens with a long four and a half-line declarative sentence that starts off like a question addressing the trauma of living through multiple wars.
Alliteration “M” usually invokes a lullaby tone, but here it is more hypnotic creating a sense that these horrible events just keep happening.
Introspective and whole.�She knows how several madnesses are born,�Seeing the integrated never fighting well,�The flesh too vulnerable, the eyes tear-torn..e
Historical Allusion a reference to desegregation. The author was a reporter at the Scottsboro Trials and the injustice deeply affected her. Also a reference to the integration of military and how they did not fight well together.
Alliteration & Juxtaposition is created with the image “tear-torn,” as though the soothing salinity of tears could tear (rip) the eyes, perhaps because they have been flowing for so long.
Symbol despite all she has seen, she is still able to examine her own character and maintains a sense of wholeness. This is symbolic of the speaker, but also of many people who lived through trauma.
Metaphor suggests that humans create and reproduce the madness of war.
Anaphora, Parallelism, Asyndeton Repetition of “the,” omission of “and” help create this list of what she has been through
She finds a pre-surrender on all sides:�Treaty before the war, ritual impatience turn enjambment�The camps of ambush to chambers of imagery.
Diction giving up too soon, sometimes before the battle has begun.
Parallel structure
points to the romanticism of war “camps of ambush” (battlefields), turned into “chambers of imagery “beauty”
Historical Allusion could be referring to the Treaty of Versailles after WWI, which many believe caused the devastation of the German economy and the rise of Hitler.
She holds belief in the world, she stays and hides enjambment�
Life in her own defeat, stands, though her whole world burn enjambment�
A childless goddess of fertility.
Personification Life itself stands up
Volta in spite of everything she has witnessed, she still has faith in the world
Diction active tense verbs suggest that the woman’s survival requires extra strength
Symbolism womanhood…what else does it symbolize?