Critical Analysis of The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave Me
Critical Analysis of "The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave Me"
At first glance one could easily form an opinion of what the contents of the poem The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me directly form the title. First, the use of the adjective, black, is generally used to portray a feeling of darkness, sorrow, or even death. Lace is a delicate, beautiful, and flamboyant material usually on the outside edge of other materials that could mean something in this poem may have a frail edge. The phrase “my Mother Gave me” presents a feeling that the fan has a sentimental importance to the author. The following paragraphs are an analysis of the poem itself.
In the first stanza, it states that the fan is the first gift a specific gentleman gave the authors mother. A first gift is usually thought of to have an especially sentimental value, and because this gift was handed down to a descendant, according to the title, gives the fan even more sentimentality. The fact that he bought the fan for five francs diminishes its value emotionally, but it was pre-war Paris when the fan was purchased so five francs may have been a great deal of money.
They, he, and she are mentioned many times in the second and third stanzas, they are also the last stanzas to contain the pronouns with an exception of the last sentence of the poem. He is used frequently in the second verse and not at all in the third signifying the male role in the relationship. Oppositely, [s]he is used even more often in the third verse suggesting the female position. This plays a role in another segment of the poem, which is explained in the next paragraphs.
The forth and fifth stanzas are about the same subject matter, the fan, and continuality between verses is achieved by ending the fourth verse with the subject and verb [i]t is and starting the fifth stanza with the rest of the sentence. Every line in the forth and fifth verse is about the fan and noticeably longer. Truth be told, any sentence in the entire poem mentioning any quality of the fan, be it where the fan was bought, the material, or color, is distinctly protracted. Another observation is that the tense is no longer in past tense, but present tense. Usage of this tense change puts forward...