What Shall I Give My Children
What Shall I Give My Children - meaning Summary
Gifts for Unfinished Children
Brooks addresses her marginalized children—those deemed "leastwise"—who feel incomplete and stigmatized. They ask not for luxury but for a clear, dignified shape amid harsh conditions. The speaker has aesthetic skill and sympathy but lacks the material means or social sanction—the "proper stone"—to finish or validate them. Love and sorrow alone cannot repair structural deprivation; the poem links artistic intent to real political and economic lack.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat shall I give my children? who are poor, Who are adjudged the leastwise of the land, Who are my sweetest lepers, who demand No velvet and no velvety velour; But who have begged me for a brisk contour, Crying that they are quasi, contraband Because unfinished, graven by a hand Less than angelic, admirable or sure. My hand is stuffed with mode, design, device. But I lack access to my proper stone And plenitude of plan shall not suffice Nor grief nor love shall be enough alone To ratify my little halves who bear Across an autumn freezing everywhere . . .
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