Songs For The Unborn Second Baby

-The Openest Flower-

Songs For The Unborn Second Baby, written by Notley in 1979, is a long poem which highlights her feelings of frustration and isolation during her pregnancy with her second child, a topic left mostly unexplored in the poetic world. Throughout the text it is clear that Alice is frustrated for a plethora of reasons. She is angry that her husband Ted Berrigan holds the title of "breadwinner" when she herself is creating life. She is frustrated that she might never become her own entity as "Alice the poet". She was almost "teased" with the idea of receiving more freedom after having her first child only to be tied down again in pregnancy with her second son.

Are you cringing because this topic is unfamiliar, unspoken about, invisible in the world of poetic discussion? Then perhaps Alice Notley's work is not for you, for she as a woman and an artist is open to the discussion of the bold and under-represented...

-A Bouquet Of Isolation-

The entirety of Songs For The Unborn Second Baby highlights the struggles of being a mother such as the isolation and alienation it causes. Overall, she holds a valid and overwhelming sense of isolation from being a new mother and from being in a new place due to the fact that she had just moved to England with Ted when once he got a new job. We can see the references to "English" culture as well as flowers and fields due to the drastic shift in environment Alice had experienced while writing this work. These references to flowers such as roses, daffodils, etc. might also be a focus of the work due to the fact that women are seen as “natural beings” and tied closer to nature, especially when it comes to pregnancy. Although in her autobiographical text "Doublings", Notley claims it was, "against a conventional symbol of fertility, this spectacular stage for manifold flower appearances, that I wrote Songs For The Unborn Second Baby,". Perhaps she meant it not to represent fertility in the stereotypical sense, but as a way of mocking the symbol as her text consists of her frustrations surrounding her second pregnancy and the idea of raising another child. The following are excerpts and analysis of Songs For The Unborn Second Baby in relation to the themes of isolation, alienation, and anger as a resulting factor.

This excerpt portrays isolation as a female issue when considered in the context of pregnancy. The man referenced to as him within these lines appears to be Notley's husband Ted Berrigan. In reference to the inclusion of flowers in this work. Notley seems to refer to them as not only symbols of her isolation but as symbols of her femininity, so it is reasonable that Berrigan could not see these things as he does not understand the struggles of womanhood and pregnancy. Perhaps this is why Notley includes the statement "though they empower" when referencing the flowers, if flowers represent femininity then it becomes about feminist empowerment. It displays that women do not need to abandon their feminine qualities to be empowered individuals.

The entirety of Songs For The Second Unborn Baby consists of a lot of fragmented statements which almost forces the reader to pause and evaluate each individual “piece to the puzzle” before moving on to the next. Is Notley commenting on the frequent and ever-present interruptions with come with being a mother with these fragments? Or perhaps the empty spaces are meant to visually represent the emptiness and isolation she is feeling as a pregnant woman in a new place?

-Intertwined In Ancient Humanity-

The Source of Interruption and Isolation

With this, Notley is making a claim about the inseparable bond between mother and child, a bond that has existed throughout humanity. She seems to feel trapped by this bond, this inescapable commitment she has been forced to follow through with. The words "the baby repays her mysteriously by continuing to exist," seem to portray something positive unless considered in the context of the entirety of the poetic work. The baby does not "repay" a debt, benefitting the mother. The baby seems to only contribute itself as a burden, a duty, a responsibility to the mother. This burden, intertwined with women in their "ancient humanity" creates almost an air of relatability, as all mothers can relate the issues involved with motherhood and child-bearing since it is a natural process which has essentially remained unchanged throughout time.

Is this even a comedic statement? What is Notley attempting to say here- does the man (presumably Ted) miss the greater concept behind the question or was it meant to be taken literally? The mother seems to be asking this question because she has been so infuriated and tied down to the task of child-raising that she considers possible courses of action to attain her liberation. Why does the man find the question "hilarious"? Perhaps this is not a statement about the frustrations of motherhood due to the exhaustive nature of raising children. Perhaps it is meant to be a statement on the lack of understanding men possess for the frustrations of mothers and women in general.

This displays the dependency of children on their mothers -- the desperation of the child as he "clings" on to his mother not only displays the needs of the child but the suffocating nature of the task from the mother's end as well. Children can be viewed as the source of a mother's isolation due to the fact that mothers have no time left to themselves as they constantly tend to their young and their "difficult" need. This need is difficult to tend to and it is difficult for mothers to remain content carrying out such labor. An expert on Notley's work, Lindsay Turner, states that "through Notley’s poetry, poetic work comes to provide a nuanced and flexible model for conceptualizing gendered reproductive labor,". Notley not only focuses on the difficulties of childbirth, but on what comes after as well.

-The Distortion of Normalcy-

This excerpt focuses on the abnormalities that result from pregnancy. Not only does one feel distorted due to a "growing belly" and other physical changes, one lives as "another". No longer being able to identify themselves as the person whom they were before. Once one becomes a mother she now lacks freedom, mobility and ability to make choices solely for the good of themselves.

In this excerpt, interruption is not only presented through the use of the word itself but from the brokenness of the stanza and the isolation of the word. This is designed to represent the sudden and abrupt mood swings of postpartum depression which is common for women to experience after giving birth- is this new state she abruptly entered truly "herself" or a mask? In Notley's autobiographical text "Doubling", she explains this dualism as, "I was two people, the one I had always been and the new one who was suffering. The strangeness of being one suffering , being one so other, coexisted alongside a happiness with and a fascination with my son. How could being be so double?". Perhaps this state of "self" is not a mask, but another version of herself, both being considered the "real self".

-Shaking Hands With The Mayor-

This statement consists of a straight-forward, aggressive, and direct thought --- the mayor represents a figure of male dominance and dictatorial power. The question outlines an act of rebellion in going towards the mens room where women are not supposed to enter -- showing a defiance for male authority and societal restraint.

This straight-forward and nonchalant statement displays culture in reference to the appreciation of women solely as sexual objects of desire. By placing these words in sequence with one another, the statement almost seems to illustrate that "whores" are no more valued than food or alcohol. Have women's bodies become so heavily objectified that they have no more significance than this?

Although this statement may be presented plainly in structure and complexity, it becomes no less powerful due to its meaningful nature. In claiming she as a female is her own god and not "he" representing men, "then" representing time and lack of freedom, or "they" perhaps representing society as a whole, this statement is showing the power of women as their own defining force in need of no control from others.

-An Empty Mirror-

An expert on Notley's work, Lindsay Turner, claims that “Notley’s scope expands to visionary heights and to the depths of personal collective memory, these collections are firmly rooted in the everyday, shot through with depictions of caring for children, making ends meet, and eking out a poetic existence within these material conditions,”. The way Notley chooses to end Songs For The Unborn Second Baby is no exception to this description. This excerpt deals with Notley's issues related to identity and attempting to make a name for herself as a poet while still attending to her motherly duties. Not only does she claim to see "nothing in the mirror", she ends the statement abruptly and leaves the subject unidentified. Is Notley a poet? Is she a mother? The narrator herself seems to lack the answer and therefore leaves the audience without resolution, although the rest of the poem is "full of its own precisions" (Notley, 140).

-Cover photo taken by Dr. Nick Sturm in Wivenhoe, Essex, UK where Notley lived while writing Songs for the Unborn Second Baby.-Lindsay Turner, "Lullaby & Labor: Alice Notley and the Work of Poetry", Contemporary Women's Writing, Volume 12, Issue 3, November 2018, Pages 289–305, https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpy022-Notley, Alice. “Doublings” The Grand Permission: New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood, edited by Patricia Dienstfrey and Brenda Hillman, Wesleyan University Press, 2003, pp. 137–143.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse