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My Husbands Back Susan Minot Analysis

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In her poem “ My Husbands Back”, Susan Minot describes how she feels being a mother, and wife on an emotional and bad day. Minot writes this poem as the speaker and the tone is very heartfelt and sorrow at times. From the title of this poem we can gather that the poem is about a husband and wife and their relationship. “My husbands back” was actually very close to home at times in the poem and made me think about my relationship with my husband and even about my relationship growing up with my father. Minot uses line breaks, metaphors, connotation and figurative language in this poem. “My Husbands Back” consists of a 30-line stanza that is written in free verse form. Minot writes the poem as though she is the wife. Right from the start …show more content…

“The fire won’t catch (9), The wet wood’s caked with ice”. “This is also how connotations are used” (2017). A connotation is an idea or feeling of a word that adds to its primary meaning. This is split between lines nine and ten. I really like the way she describes the wood. She could have said covered or frosted but she chooses caked. This is where her husband enters the poem. “His back in a snug plaid shirt”(16) is describing how she sees her husband. We can also see a change in the tone of the poem as well. The wife talks of how she needs someone to lean on when times are tough. “Leaning into the woodstove” (18) is how the husband is making sure the house is warm and the fire is lit even though the fire wood is wet and caked with ice. When I read these first twenty lines, I envision a small cabin in the woods and the husband trying to gather firewood while the wife takes care of the child and makes the dinner. They are poor but still they’re for each other and providing what they have and need even though it may not be the richest it is all they need at the time. “ It sits right there, the back I love” (25-26), these lines are the ones that draw you to how much she loves her husband. The speaker describes how much she loves her husband in that

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