Anne Carson’s poem, “Father’s Old Blue Cardigan”, works to show the reader the emotions of the speaker following the death of her father, and the imagery creates a lasting impression. The poem creates centrifugal movement that is ensnaring.
The Piece
The poem begins simply with an image of a “Blue Cardigan” as “it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair” (line 1). The language is transparent and vivid, but the transparency slips away mirroring the cycle of life:
Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair
where I always sit, as it did
[...] shocking him
because he is riding backwards. (lines 1-24)
Empathetic Imagery
As mentioned there is a pleasant simplicity and sadness attached to the first half of the poem, but the meat of the piece truly takes hold after the father slips into senility and the speaker sees him “standing at the turn of the driveway” wearing the “blue cardigan with the buttons done up all the way to the top” on a “hot July afternoon”. The speaker so clearly remembers the scene that it evokes empathy. The empathy is first built up with the image of the cardigan hanging “on the back of the kitchen chair / where I always sit, as it did / on the back of the kitchen chair where he always sat” and when the memory of the father “standing at the turn of driveway” like a “small child” appears it is solidified.
Cryptic Flight
The latter half of the poem is slightly more cryptic than the first half of the poem. After the images of the “cardigan” and the “father” the poem slides into an elevated, imaginative simile propelled by childlike innocence as a symbol of the cycle of life. The reader is whisked away “on cold trains and windy platforms” and “over haystacks”. Eventually, after the chilled traveling it is discovered that the entire journey occurred while “riding backwards”.
Coming to Pass
Human memories are full of images and objects and this poem utilizes both to create a sense of coming and going. The transient feeling of the piece is much like that of life because some moments crystallize while others vaporize. Hold on tight because even if the ride seems to be going straightforward one may end up “backwards”.
Source:
- Carson, Anne. "Father's Old Blue Cardigan." Men in the Off Hours. New York: Knopf, 2000. Print.
Matthew Birdsall - Matt is a reader, writer, teacher, lover, and liver, not necessarily in that order. He is eager to read your comments and hopes you enjoy ...
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