The+Names

Names are the only thing set for a person. People grow and mature and change. Through the poem Edmond only seems to know the children's name and tries to make the names the most important as she doesn't really know them anymore just there names. Even though they have moved on and 'one' has died she still holds onto the names not wanting to let go. -Izzy

I think the way that Edmonds announces that 'One is dead.' Is extremely relevant to the ideas of the poem. the short simple sentence represents life's bluntness, or its abrupt shokcing events and the other way in which it operates, which is more gradual and subtle. In this case, the death of her daughter was the abrupt, shocking event, and the subtle gradual happenings would be that as life progresses, she is losing touch with her other children too, yet she can't stop the forces of life (represented by the wind in the poem.) She wants to 'know them again yet she recognses that life moves on, and their childhood, which is described with the lively adverbs and verbs of the second stanza, has passed, to be replaced by a more distant relationship now that her children ar no lnoger dependent on her. I think the moon is an interesting choice of metahor or symbolism but I can't quite pinpoint what it should represent. Does anybody else have any ideas? Abby

The moon has different phases where it begins to grown and then faints away. Maybe the moon represents the close relationship to her children. The relationship to her children develops throughout their childhood which starts by giving them their name at birth and then becomes greater until it fades away when she only gets "news from abroad" from her children. "Abroad" emphasizes to the remoteness she feels between her and her children. -Lorenz

The poem emphasizes the importance of memories; of names. Without them what would we be? We would become people like her children in the poem who have grown up: "I do not know you: we are friends". No longer considered a member of the family, just friends. "But the names will never leave me" The names however, the memories of them playing as children in the summer, will never be forgotten. "They will sound in the dreams of your children's children". They will never stop being remembered, they will flow down the infinite strand of time - the "envelope" being sent to the next and the next, carrying and filling it with old and new memories; sustaing one of the most important aspects to the poet (memories), for generations to come.- Theon

The children are the 'blood and breathing' of the author, highlighting their significance in the authors life as she has gone to her limits in raising the children, however the children have become distant to her and are now not as close to her as they used to be. There is no direct face to face contact often, "we write often", also the inclusion of the dead daughter shows the extent of the distance between the author and children, as this particular child is so far from her that she only exists in the author's memories. -Winstan

This poem outlines the difference between the past and the present, and the memories associated with the past along with the absence of potential memories within the present. The line one of you is dead further outlines the absence of the the children as it makes the absence seem absolute due to the death. The names of her children are now the only memories she has of them - David

Enjambent is used throughout the poem, even between the third and fourth paragraphs, this gives a relatively loose feel to the poem. The time frame is given right at the beginning of the poem and the poem describes how the moon still resides in the sky untill it finally sets at the end of the poem. It's quite a soft sounding poem with alliteration like "sing softly" with "the sounds blend(ing) and chant(ing)". The poem then changes dramatically to a chaotic feel where "the music breaks into a roar". Once again this poem talks about the idea of death. That nature carries on despite the death of a child. One could possibly say that despite death, the dark night finally ends and the moon sets. -James

The poem starts with the moon - often associated with insanity. She then continues with 'Do I know you?'. Her line of thought and reasoning goes all over the place. First chant in her ear, then laughter and screaming. This represents the insane bliur that life is, and with it, the narrator is insane. As the moon goes out, she dies, and she's left with only names - the only things which remain constant over the blur of her life. - Jacob

I think the children definitely hold huge importance to the poet throughout the poem, as they are described as the 'blood'-perhaps the only thing keeping her alive in her insanity? I like the symbolism that Jacob mentioned with the moon as moons are commonly associated with 'loonies' and weird things happening. Especially full moons. The main ideas are that no matter how crazy or blurred things become, we can always find constants. For the author this was the children's names. Chelsea

The whole poem is Edmonds insanity to the death of her daughter, this is surprising as in the poem 'family group' it seems as though Edmonds has accepted the loss of her daughter and has moved on. the last stanza further implies her insanity as she says that she can hear the 'names' calling to her and will never leave her alone and the reference to 'moon' implies the looniness/craziness in her. - Sahib

I think the phases of the moon symbolises the different phases of the narrator's life. As the moon changes its phase it looks different but it will always remain to be the moon. This parallels to the narrator who, as she grows old, leaves previous lives behind - the third stanza seems to represent young children ("Watch me" and describing them as falling and hurting themselves), the fourth stanza represents a mother's point of view when her children have grown up and left home, the fifth and sixth stanzas represent these children returning to see her in her old age out of duty and habit rather than pleasure. However at the end of the day, no matter what the narrator has done over her life, how much she has changed, her names and core identity are still the same. - Mike