The�Lost�Woman
Published in 1982
Patricia Beer
1919-1999
Exmouth, UK
Oxford University
This poem is written about her own mother who died when she was 14 of cancer. Patricia and her sister were not allowed t see her at the end of her life, nor attend her funeral.
Identify the rhyme �and meter�
For meter, try lines� 2, 12, 25 and 26
My mother went with no more warning�than a bright voice and a bad pain.�Home from school on a June morning�And where the brook goes under the lane�I saw the back of a shocking white�Ambulance drawing away from the gate.
She never returned and I never saw�Her buried. So a romance began.�The ivy-mother turned into a tree�That still hops away like a rainbow down�The avenue as I approach.�My tendrils are the ones that clutch.
I made a life for her over the years.�Frustrated no more by a dull marriage�She ran a canteen through several wars.�The wit of a cliché-ridden village�She met her match at an extra-mural�Class and the OU summer school.
Many a hero in his time�And every poet has acquired�A lost woman to haunt the home,�To be compensated and desired,�Who will not alter, who will not grow,�A corpse they need never get to know.
She is nearly always benign. Her habit�Is not to stride at dead of night.�Soft and crepuscular in rabbit-�Light she comes out. Hear how they hate�Themselves for losing her as they did.�Her country is bland and she does not chide.
�But my lost woman evermore snaps�From somewhere else: ‘you did not love me.�I sacrificed too much perhaps,�I showed you the way to rise above me�And you took it. You are the ghost�With the bat-voice, my dear. I am not lost.’
My mother went with no more warning�than a bright voice and a bad pain.�Home from school on a June morning�And where the brook goes under the lane�I saw the back of a shocking white�Ambulance drawing away from the gate.
She never returned and I never saw�Her buried. So a romance began.�The ivy-mother turned into a tree�That still hops away like a rainbow down�The avenue as I approach.�My tendrils are the ones that clutch.
I made a life for her over the years.�Frustrated no more by a dull marriage�She ran a canteen through several wars.�The wit of a cliché-ridden village�She met her match at an extra-mural�Class and the OU summer school.
Many a hero in his time�And every poet has acquired�A lost woman to haunt the home,�To be compensated and desired,�Who will not alter, who will not grow,�A corpse they need never get to know.
She is nearly always benign. Her habit�Is not to stride at dead of night.�Soft and crepuscular in rabbit-�Light she comes out. Hear how they hate�Themselves for losing her as they did.�Her country is bland and she does not chide.
�But my lost woman evermore snaps�From somewhere else: ‘you did not love me.�I sacrificed too much perhaps,�I showed you the way to rise above me�And you took it. You are the ghost�With the bat-voice, my dear. I am not lost.’
A
B
A
B
C
C
D
E
D
E
F
F
G
H
G
H
I
I
Six sestets/Consistent Rhyme Scheme
with half/slant rhyme
Follows the same pattern
The mix of full and slant tends to produce harmony and dissonance, a pattern of togetherness and apartness, which reflects the relationship of mother and daughter. They're never quite in synch.
Meter
than a / bright voice / and a / bad pain. (line 2)
My ten /drils are / the ones / that clutch. (line 12)
Is not / to stride / at dead / of night. (line 26)
She is / nearly / always / benign. / Her ha / bit (line 25)
This poem has a mix of different rhythms beating through its confused heart.
Trochaic pentameter
Iambic tetrameter
pyrrhic spondaic pyrrhic spondaic
My mother went with no more warning�than a bright voice and a bad pain.�Home from school on a June morning�And where the brook goes under the lane�I saw the back of a shocking white�Ambulance drawing away from the gate.
Alliteration with “My mother” and “more” in the first line brings speed to the event and to the suddenness of her mother’s death. The plosive alliteration of “bright,” “bad”, “brook”, and “back” add to the harshness of the loss.
June �the daughter is coming home from school, so she is young when her mother dies.
Diction “no warning” and “shocking” add even more to the speed of the sudden death.
She never returned and I never saw�Her buried. So a romance began.�The ivy-mother turned into a tree�That still hops away like a rainbow down�The avenue as I approach.�My tendrils are the ones that clutch.
Diacope
“She never returned and I never saw/Her buried.” The repetition of “never” emphasizes the heightened emotion of the daughter. She does not have closure, as she does not see her mother buried.
simile is underscoring the mother being just out of reach (like a rainbow that looks like you could touch it, but you never can)
Enjambment & caesura Added to the diacope, the pauses stack into the lack of closure as if the daughter doesn’t know where to start and stop.
Visual imagery
The ivy-mother
Ivy is parasitic and will eventually overtake even a mature tree. As ivy climbs, it weakens branches through its weight and prevents light from penetrating to the leaves. Weakened plants and trees are more susceptible to problems like pests or disease.
She is calling her mother parasitic, invading her thoughts, her life, killing her with her grasp…
The ivy-mother turned into a tree
Trees are representative of life, protection, and growth. The mother has gone from being the parasitic ivy to a positive image, as though she is trying to show the daughter how to get on with her life, to grow.
…tree that still hops away like a rainbow down/ The avenue as I approach.�
Rainbows are symbolic of new beginnings and hope. For the daughter, this hope is always just out of her reach…her new beginning looks like it is nearby, but every time she approaches it, it is still far away.
My tendrils are the ones that clutch.
A tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment.
The daughter is admitting that it is not her mother who is still hanging on, but it is her own inability to let go. She is the parasite, still clinging.
intelligent
artistic
business savvy
I made a life for her over the years.�Frustrated no more by a dull marriage�She ran a canteen through several wars.�The wit of a cliché-ridden village�She met her match at an extra-mural�Class and the OU summer school.
Cliché
Meaning that she has finally been challenged by someone or something that is as smart or talented as she
Alliteration The cacophonous “C” and the smooth “M” followed by sibilance adds to the fantasy of her mother’s exciting imaginary existence. She is loud, boisterous, smooth, and subtle all at the same time.
Open University
Founded in 1979 as the next generation education. Classes would be broadcast on radio and television so anyone in the world could take them.
Many a hero in his time�And every poet has acquired�A lost woman to haunt the home,�To be compensated and desired,�Who will not alter, who will not grow,�A corpse they need never get to know.
alliteration
The alliteration draws us to the attention of “hero,” “haunt,” and “home,” which are the three dueling views the daughter has of the mother.
Parallel structure �underscores the reality of losing someone…that person ceases to change, grow, and will forever be immortalized in that last moment of life
Universal “Lost Woman”
The characteristics of everyone’s lost woman are revealed, while at the same time, the speaker is describing her mother.
diction: compensated
Generally means to receive money for a loss, or for suffering. Thus, you must pay the ghost with…?
She is nearly always benign. Her habit�Is not to stride at dead of night.�Soft and crepuscular in rabbit-�Light she comes out. Hear how they hate�Themselves for losing her as they did.�Her country is bland and she does not chide.
Characteristics �of a lost woman
benign (meaning not harmful) is a term often associated with cancer. The idea that she is NEARLY always benign indicates that she was NOT always benign…
Rabbit-light
But my lost woman evermore snaps�From somewhere else: ‘you did not love me.�I sacrificed too much perhaps,�I showed you the way to rise above me�And you took it. You are the ghost�With the bat-voice, my dear. I am not lost.’
“my”
The poem shifts back to exclusively talking about her mother. Now the mother is speaking to her.
sibilance is hissing at the daughter, correcting her view of the mother.
Enjambment
Creates a stinging blow to the daughter’s narrative. The mother has given her all the tools she needed to rise above, but the daughter made herself into a ghost, which was not the “rising above” her mother wished for her.
But my lost woman evermore snaps�From somewhere else: ‘you did not love me.�I sacrificed too much perhaps,�I showed you the way to rise above me�And you took it. You are the ghost�With the bat-voice, my dear. I am not lost.’
Bat-voice bats squeal and have very poor vision. Coupled with “my dear” a term of endearment, the mother is forcefully telling her daughter to get on with her life.
Anaphora/ Italicized word
The repetition of the “you” directly attacking the daughter is a surprises shift in tone. The other short sentences add to the punch: the daughter is the one lost.
Onomatopoeia
Creates the volta, the shift, in the poem
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