Ode to Suburbia

1. Ode to Suburbia Written by Eavan Boland Presented by Michael Scaccia

2. Vocab words to know • Ode: a poem meant to be sung • Suburbia: a collective area of suburbs which are an area outside a city • Gape: to stare with a wide open mouth in wonder • Varicose: abnormally or unusually large • Cot: a bed like sleeping apparatus • Sinews: source of power or strength • Encroach: deviate from usual power, make new roads, trespass • Spinster: a woman unmarried beyond normal age

3. Literary Features • Man vs. Fate • Power • Tone

4. Six O’clock: the kitchen bulbs which blister • Your Dark, your housewives starting to nose • Out each other’s day, the claustrophobia • Of your back gardens varicose • With shrubs make an ugly sister • Of you suburbia

5. How long ago did the glass in your windows subtly • Silver into mirrors which again • And again show the same woman • Shriek at a child, which multiply • A dish, a brush, ash, • The gape of a fish

6. In the kitchen, the gape of a child in the cot? • You swelled so that when you tried • The silver slipper on your foot • It pinched your instep and the common • Hurt which touched you made • You Human

7. No creatures of your streets will feel the touch • Of a wand turning the wet sinews • Of fruit suddenly to a coach, • While this rat without leather reins • Or a whip or britches continues • Slimming your drains

8. No magic here. Yet you encroach me until • The shy countryside, fooled • By your plainness falls, then rises • From your bed changed, schooled • Forever by your skill, • Your comprises.

9. Midnight and your metamorphosis • Is now complete, although the mind • Which spinstered now might still miss • Your mystery now, might still fail • To see your powers defined • By this detail:

10. By this creature drowsing now in every house, • The same lion who tore stripes • Once off zebras, who now sleeps • Small beside the coals and may • On a red letter day • Catch a mouse.

11. Allusions • Suburbia refers to the communities and more often than not the housewives that inhabit there (main character) • Housewives are represented in this way due to how they are enveloped in this environment and are therefore “shaped” by it • Midnight is often referred to the magical hours of night in poem • The narrator receives her imaginary powers during this time • Most likely can refer to any period of time as suburbia's still exist today and there are still housewives

12. Inarguable • Context: • It is similar to most of her poems as each stanza is comprised of 4 lines each and a similar syllable count effective in each stanza • This poem comprises of 7 stanzas with 6 lines each • Syllable count varies with each individual stanza • Meaning of the poem • The poem takes place between the times of 6 a.m. and midnight • This time involves a transformation from an urban mom to an individual with freedom beyond imagination • The audience of the his poem would mostly comprise of housewives • A female (who is the persona of the speaker) narrates her lifestyle as she is a victim of her environment and limited lifestyle • Such constraints are her children and commitments • She dreams to break away from this

13. Arguable • Claim: This poem presents two contrasting ideals of the narrator’s world • One is real and the other is imaginary • This imaginary world is often mocked compared to being unrealistic • This is compared to a lion eating a mouse • The real world is hated and dull • Represented by the “claustrophobia” and “ugly sister” • Gape of a child should also be noted as the constant attention to children is never ending

14. Literary Features • Man vs. Fate • The denial of present stance in the world of the narrator • Fate will bring her back to reality the next day • There is no perfect world • Power • Is a necessity to be obtained • Provides the ability for independence • Breaks free from traditional perspective of life • Tone • Full of despair in the beginning • Infinitely tied to child and home • Aspiration in the end • Even a little freedom is asked for