Analysis: Poem #1

ANALYSIS

In addition to the numerous literary devices utilized in this poem, upon a deeper analysis of its topic and its overall significance, it is evident that the writer, Rupi Kaur, has written about her own familial experiences. In the first stanza of this poem, Kaur states "your mother / is in the habit of / offering more love / than you can carry"

(1. 1-4), alluding to her relationship with her mother, a figure in Rupi Kaur's life for whom she holds incredible esteem and respect.

The reason to why describes Rupi describes herself as being unable to carry all of her mother's love would allude to the manner in which Kaur treated her mother after immigrating to Canada. Despite her mother's sacrifices and adversities faced to provide a more desirable upbringing for Rupi and her younger siblings, as a child, Rupi was oblivious to this and instead would distance herself from her mother, ashamed of her accent and culture.

In the next stanza, it states "your father is absent" (2. 1), which this time, refers to Rupi's relationship with her father, who—at the time of Rupi's birth—was not present for her, instead working as a truck driver in Canada in order to help provide the basic necessities for Rupi and the rest of her family. For the first three-and-a-half years of Rupi's life, until her immigration to Canada, she had not met or known her father. Even after Rupi's immigration to Canada, her father was absent quite frequently as his occupation was a long-distance trucker driver, with shippings taking days or weeks at a time away from family.

In the final stanza, Rupi is referring to her experiences as the child of a mother and father with a torn relationship, which the poem refers to as "collateral damage," with the term itself being an allusion to the unintentional death/injury of a non-military-affiliated individual. The immigration of Rupi's father to Canada was not only difficult for Rupi and her siblings, but also for her mother, who was tasked with raising 4 children prior to their reunion with Kaur's father.