JustineClark

"Marks" by Linda Pastan (1978)

Justine Clark

My husband gives me an A for last night's supper, an incomplete for my ironing, a B plus in bed. My son says I am average, an average mother, but if I put my mind to it I could improve. My daughter believes in Pass/Fail and tells me I pass. Wait 'til they learn I'm dropping out.


 * Way 1: First Impressions**

The poem "Marks" by Linda Pastan is about the marks or grades she receives from her family. The first four lines describe the marks given by her husband for certain household chores such as cooking and ironing. The next four lines are those marks from her son. He says she is average, but she continues on saying this mark could be improved if she put her mind to it. The next couple of lines are the marks from her daughter. However, her daughter believes in only pass or fail, and she passes. The poem ends with a comedic twist when she says that she is dropping out. Originally, I thought this meant that the speaker was no longer concerned with the grades she was receiving from her family. However, as the semester progressed, I realized that this last line can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. All of these ways are listed below and make complete logical sense when looking into the textual evidence. I think Pastan meant for the last line to have multiple interpretations depending on which perspective it is looked at from.


 * Way 2: Engaging with the Text**

This poem doesn't have any rhyming involved, so there wasn't any focus on a single word or phrase when reading. Also, there was no alliteration or assonance. The rhythm to the poem was very flowing and easy to read. The only thing that affected the sound or the flow of the poem was the punctuation. This made for pauses and breaks in the poem. These breaks were logical and helped emphasize certain parts of the poem, mainly the marks the mother receives from her family.

After having someone else read the poem to me, I noticed that there were three different grading systems or marks used throughout. The husband uses a letter grading system with the A and the incomplete. Next, the son uses a ranking system, with his mother being average. The daughter uses the simplest system with either a pass or fail grade. This tells me that the title of the poem "Marks" is perhaps the most important subtextual evidence.


 * Way 3: A Point About Form and Its Relationship to Content**

"Marks" by Linda Pastan is a lyric poem. It is a rather short poem with one speaker throughout. The speaker in the poem expresses her many throughts and feelings regarding her duties as a wife and mother. This poem uses line breaks and commas to interrupt the sentences throughout the poem. These commas and line breaks place an emphasis on key parts of the poem since the reader automatically pauses upon reaching a comma or end of line. This emphasis creates a more dramatic, intense effect.


 * Way 3: Another Point About Form and Its Relationship to Content**

This poem also could be classified as a free verse poem. As stated by Brown and Yarbrough, in free verse the stanza can be determined by the shape of the words and the connection between the groups of words. In this poem, there are three groups of four lines, each grouping for a different family member. First the husband, next the son, and last the daughter. Each family member is one stanza. Also when looking at the structure and shape of the poem you will notice that the last line of each of the three groups is the shortest. These short lines are the most important and powerful.


 * Way 4: Unpacking an Instance of Figurative Language**

One metaphor that seems to drive the entire poem is the use of various school grading systems as a tool to evaluate the speakers completion of household chores. This type of metaphor that drives the entire poem is called a controlling metaphor, since it controls the entire poem. "Marks," the title of the poem, gives way to this metaphor. Usually this word is defined as a mark as a spot or line on a piece of paper. This literal meaning of this term doesn't allow for much insight into this metaphor. However, if one looks at the connotative meaning of the word mark, there is much to gain. Often, many of us associate the word mark with grades received in school. This is precisely what the title of this poem is refering to. This idea of marks as grades is illustrated with the speakers family members. Each family member has their own grading system to evaluate the speaker. The husband uses a letter grading system, the son a ranking system, and the daughter simply grades her mother on a pass/fail system. As you can see, there is extensive textual evidence to support this metaphor.

Another metaphor in this poem is the metaphor of the mother of a family being compared to a student. This metaphor was one I was able to see with the help of a fellow student, Jessica O' Connor. Just as a student works hard in school to obtain good grades and academic success so does a mother work hard taking care of her family and household. Both of these jobs can be challenging tasks. Often, without the needed support from the student's family, friends, and teachers the student can become frustrated and have an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. This is also the same for a mother. Sometimes the mother doesn't get recognized for all the things she does for her family. It can be a thankless job and often frustration and exhustion can take over. When both the student and mother get these overwhelming feelings, they both feel as what the last line of the poem says, "I'm dropping out."


 * Way 5: Analyzing the Setting**

It is hard to analyze the setting in this poem because it is a lyric poem. Lyric poetry is poetry conveying the thoughts and feelings of the speaker. Even though this poem does contain characters, her family members, it doesn't tell a story. Therefore, it is not a narrative poem. Since this is true, the poem lacks a plot and a setting. This missing setting is the case in all lyric poems. However, in this particular poem there is an implied setting. The implied setting is the family house where the mom, dad, son, and daughter live. They function as a unit and work together.


 * Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing the Point of View**

This poem is written in first person point of view. I could tell this was true by the use of "I" throughout the poem. The speaker is telling her thoughts and feelings throughout the poem. You can further narrow down first person point of view into first person protagonist or first person witness. In this particular poem, first person protagonist is being used. The speaker is narrating the poem using events that have happened to him or her, not events happening to someone else. When first person point of view is being used, it is important not to assume that the speaker is the author themselves.


 * Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, and Difficulty**

Overall, this poem isn't very complex. It is short and to the point. There is no fluff to make it difficult. The controlling metaphor in this poem also helps the reader stay focused. This metaphor also helps the poem flow and it really ties the whole poem together making it easy to read and understand. The only part that may make the reader a little confused is the different grading systems throughout the poem that are used. A reader has to be familiar with them to understand the text. Also the title of the poem is a key element and is an ambiguity. Marks has multiple meanings in our language. It could mean a name, a puncutation mark, or simply a line or dot on a piece of paper. However, in this case it refers to the grades in a school grading system. Another ambiguity in the poem is the last line, "I'm dropping out." Again, this could have multiple meanings. When you drop out of things you are no longer a part of that team, group, or class. This last line is a cliff hanger because it is up to the reader to analyze the text to see what the speaker meant by this comment. Is the speaker dropping out of the family or is she simply dropping out of her role in the family as the household leader? This line could lead readers to a variety of interpretations.

** Horizontal Thinking: Connecting the Text to Wider Contexts ** ** Way 8: Considering Canonicity ** For something to be included in a canon, the literary piece has to be judged by a large group of readers to have some preceived cultural and aesthetic value (Brown and Yarbrough 2). This poem, I believe, would be a great piece of work to be canonized. It displays the struggles felt by many mothers and women. They are continuously battling the perfect image of what it means to be a mother and all that is included with this title. Not only are they expected to be some kind of super mom, but they are expected to clean, cook, and keep track of the household. This places many demands on women. I think this poem clearly depicts this pressure and stress. Although the speaker received good or average "marks," she still is fed up with her role and the unappreciation that comes with it. The last line in this poem clearly shows the speakers frustration. This poem should be canonized because of is cultural and historical value. Future readers can look back on this poem and get a good idea of our cultural beliefs surrounding the family unit at this point in history.


 * Way 9: Biographical Context**

This poem focuses on family life and the stress and pressure that goes along with being the perfect mother. This goes hand in hand with Linda Pastan's life. After graduating from college, Pastan gave up writing to concentrate on raising a family of her own (Poetry Foundation). This was the focus of her life for the next ten years (Poetry Foundation). After concentrating on her family for ten years, her husband urged her to return to writing poetry (Poetry Foundation). This experience of raising a family and the frustrations of being a mother and a wife are evident in many of her poems, including this one. After looking at the text in this poem, I have to wonder if the last line, "I'm dropping out," is connected to her leaving her family life to continue her passion for poetry. It's not like she is literally dropping out of her family; she is just taking some time for herself. This is something that many mothers and wives don't do. They are concerned and worried about everyone else but themselves.


 * Way 10: Historical and Cultural Context**

The 1900's was a time when women fought to be treated as equals in our society. Towards the end of the 1900's this was starting to come true. Women were beginning to be more involved in politics and in 1979 women surpassed men in college enrollement (Lone Star College). With this shift in society, women were starting to have many more opportunities in career choices and often were starting to become breadwinners in families (Lone Star College). This poem of Pastan's, written in 1978, displays some of the struggles women faced during this time with equality and self worth. This poem focuses on the family aspect. With women excelling outside the home, there often becomes a struggle between wife, mother, and career. Sometimes as a wife and mother you end up falling short. You may not get to ironing those pants or you may not have a lot of time to spend with your children. Often, mothers feel as though they are coming up short with all of these great changes in society. This struggle still exists today as women continue to become more empowered. This poem displays the many struggles that were beginning for many women in society in the late nineteen hundreds with the balancing act of career and family. The last line, "I'm dropping out," really describes the frustrations and stress put on many women with the changes that began in the 1900's and continue on today.


 * Way 11: Theoretical Application**

Looking at a feminist approach to "Marks," one might concentrate on the marks or grades received by her family. A couple of the marks aren't high; they are just average. For instance, the B plus in bed, theorists might ask why the speaker received this mark or grade. From this approach, the B plus in bed may speak of the gender inequality found in the nineteenth century. During this time, there was an attitude found in society that women should obey their husband's, including in bed. However, throughout the nineteenth century this attitude was beginning to change and women were acting and speaking out. This average, but not excellent, mark may be illustrating the change in women's obedience to their husbands.


 * Way 12: Theoretical Application**

On the other hand, a cultural studies reading of "Marks" might focus on the events and history at the time the poem was written. The theorists may focus on the social aspects during this time pertaining to the poem. There are many cases throughout the poem where the speaker is feeling unappreciated and frustrated. The last line of the poem, "I'm dropping out," illustrates this. This theoretical application may ask why women are feeling these overwhelming feelings of unappreciation. They would find that these feelings were felt by many wives and mothers during the time this poem was written. Women were very limited in their occupational choices and many of them were expected to stay at home to run the household and take care of the children. They were not bringing in any money, and therefore, their contributions to the family were seen as unimportant. All of these things combined left many women feeling trapped with no way out.


 * Way 13: Unifying Interpretation**

This poem is very flowing and easy to read and follow. It can be classified as both a free verse poem and a lyric poem. It is a lyric poem in the sense that it contains a single speaker throughout and the speaker is expressing her feelings and emotions. It is also considered to be a free verse poem because of its structure. In free verse poems, the structure of the poem is determined by the connection between the words or group of words found in the poem. In this poem, there are three groups of four lines; one for each family member. There is no use of rhyming, alliteration, or assonance. The only emphasis placed comes from the line breaks and changes in punctuation. The setting of this poem is absent because of its clasification as a lyric poem. There is never a setting in a lyric poem. The poem uses "I" throughout, indicating first person point of view.

The title of the poem, "Marks," is a key factor in understanding the controlling metaphor throughout the poem and also is a source of ambiguity. A mark in our language has a couple of different meanings. It could be referring to a punctuation mark or a line or dot on a piece of paper. However, in this case, it refers to the marks or grades received in a school grading system. This idea of the school grading system is the theme of the controlling metaphor stemming from the title. Each of the family members uses a different grading system to grade the speaker of the poem. The husband uses a letter grading system, the son a ranking system, and the daughter uses strictly a pass/fail system.

This poem can be further enhanced and understood by taking a look into the author's life. Pastan's life was devoted mostly to raising her children. Her love for writing poetry was put on hold during this time until her kids were older. At this point, her husband urged her two return to writing again. I am sure that this poem speaks of these hectic times of taking care of her husband and children. Sometimes this can be a very thankless job and you can end up feeling like a failure as a mother and wife do to the stress and pressure that comes along with these titles. Also at the time this poem was written women were speaking out in our country and more women were fighting for equality and recognition.


 * Works Cited:**

"American Cultural History 1970-1979." __Lone Star College-Kingwood__. July 2008. 20 July 2009 <[]>.

//A Practical Introduction to Literary Study//. Ed. James S. Brown and Scott D. Yarbrough. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. 2.

"Linda Pastan (1932-)." __Poetry Foundation.__ 2006. 13 July 2009 <[]>.