an analysis of eleanor borwns
Awareness of poetic techniques add to a reader's understanding and responsiveness to a poems meaning, purpose, effects and implications. This is certainly true of "Your Cake" by Eleanor Brown. The poem discusses the act of making a cake for a relatives' wedding. Brown splits the cake into its component parts and discusses the etymological roots of the ingredients of the cake, commenting on the development of language as a whole. Furthermore, references to marriage, reproduction, femininity and the merging of different substances are made. The speech situation is made clear by stanzas one and ten;"Mother is drunk on tradition, her competent hand" (1)"Forgive me: I wanted to write you a sacred song,such as maiden sang for their sisters' weddings" (69-70)The speaker is the sister of a woman who is going to be married, to whom the poem is directed. "Mother" is present and she is the one making and baking the cake. This poem would not be spoken directly to the sister; the tone is too learned. In fact, the tone differs in certain places. In stanza four, "This is a giggle" shows that the speaker is enjoying what she is doing therefore the tone is relaxed ad tranquil. Afterwards the speaker moves on to describe
This not only connotes the waiting to get married, but the waiting to have sex after the marriage ceremony, when it is permitted by religion. Therefore the image of the cake is an extended symbol of marriage. And (Arabic) sukkar: sweet and crystalline. " Further on in stanza six the "folds" (42) of a "wedding dress" (40) are described as "waiting skirts". Another reference to reproduction is made when a description of flour is given; "flour of huete: the flower of the wheat. " (32-33) Brown goes on to describe the tradition of making a wedding cake as "an old, old notion" (36). This is extremely evident in stanza two, when butter and sugar lay "side by side on the kitchen counter":"Latin buyrum; Old English butere;thick primrose-yellow fat. To illustrate this point, in stanzas seven and eight, the etymology of the spices "cassia, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, caraway, nutmeg" (46) and "cloves" (46) is given:"Hebrew kesiah and kinnamon, Latin coriandrum;ginger. The stages of marriage are echoed in the structure of the poem. Brown uses these techniques as she is questioning the traditions of the past, especially marriage, and commenting on how they relate to today's world. " (46-60)Brown further goes on to describe the roots of the word "ginger" (46) as "an etymological odyssey longer / and stranger than any mere physical journey. This is not only a comment about one single word, but also a comment about language as a whole. This tone emerges most strongly in stanza ten:"I am glad you are marrying. Forgive me: I wanted to write you a sacred song,such as maidens sang for their sisters' weddings- io hymen, hymen io-but I made a cake of it.
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