Effects Flashcards
1
Q
Loss, Memory, and Absence
A
- The speaker of “Effects” grapples with the loss of his elderly mother as well as the difficult relationship the two of them had before her death. The trauma of grief has made the speaker reassess that relationship, and his elegy for her mixes tenderness, judgment, and pity. The speaker also recalls his mother’s similar response to losing her husband (presumably the speaker’s father): she, too, seemed to reevaluate, or at least better appreciate, her husband after he died. Through this intimate portrait, “Effects” shows how memory can in some ways bring us closer to our loved ones than we felt in life.
- In the end, the poem’s title, “Effects,” has a double meaning. It describes the “little bag” of personal effects the speaker collects after his mother’s death, but also her various effects on the speaker’s life. She seems to have shaped much of the speaker’s emotional landscape, and her death has truly shaken up the speaker’s world. Its “effects” mirror those she felt after her husband died, though the speaker may be coping through poetry rather than drink. More generally, the poem illustrates how loss prompts the reevaluation of old relationships, bringing newfound or rediscovered closeness and regret.
2
Q
Mothers, Children, and Family Dynamics
A
- As an elegy for the speaker’s mother, “Effects” comments more broadly on motherhood, childhood, and family. In its understated grief, the poem illustrates the deep love that can survive even lifelong family conflicts. It also shows how parent-child dynamics often become inverted, as parents age and children must take their “turn” to care for them. Though this obligation can feel burdensome, the poem suggests, it’s a natural part of the family and life cycle—and when the parent is gone, children’s resentment can turn to regret for time lost.
- The whole family in “Effects” struggles to express their love for each other, and the poem hints that the speaker’s home life over the years was often tense and difficult. Both mother and father had trouble communicating their feelings, for example; at different periods, both drank “scotch” rather than talking things out. The speaker grew to resent his mother for her “bland” tastes, suspicious nature,
3
Q
Class Divisions and Generation Gaps
A
- The mother and child in “Effects” feel a generation gap, which seems to stem partly from social class and education. The speaker regards his mother’s worldview as limited, middlebrow, and prejudiced. At the same time, the speaker’s “disdain” or “contempt” for her sabotages their relationship—and mirrors her tendency to block out empathy for others. The poem never resolves this tension but shows how it arises when one generation provides the next with a wider experience of the world. Ultimately, it suggests that we can critique but never fully “leave” where we come from.
- The speaker portrays his childhood home as unpretentious but also, at times, intolerant. For example, he recalls the “cheap,” “Old-fashioned food” his mother cooked, and preferred, over fancier or more varied cuisine. Even “when [the speaker’s] turn [comes] to cook for her” in her old age, she chooses “English, bland, / Familiar flavours” over a diet informed by other cultures. Likewise, the speaker’s family would sometimes vacation “abroad,” venturing a little beyond their comfort zone. But the speaker puts “abroad” in scare quotes, implying they never traveled far—perhaps not even out of the UK. They may have been incurious about other cultures, unable to afford long trips, or both.
4
Q
I held her …
… cup and plate
A
- “Effects” is a poem that hits the ground running. The opening lines pull the speaker right into the drama, so to speak: they establish a simple, central image, then set off on a long series of memories and associations related to that image. Here and throughout the poem, the speaker strings these memories together through parallelism and repetition, as in lines 1-3:
- And that elegy is emotionally complex in the way many parent-child relationships are. The speaker begins by noting that his mother’s hand was “always scarred.” On the literal level, it was scarred from kitchen work: “chopping, slicing,” handling “knives that lay in wait / In bowls of washing-up” (i.e., bowls of dishes to be done), and “scrubbing hard” at various dishes (“saucepan, frying pan, cup and plate”). On a symbolic level, these physical scars hint at the mother’s scarred psyche: it later turns out that she, like her child, is familiar with the experience of grief. Indeed, that experience is a link between them.
5
Q
And giving love …
… and we ate;
A
- Lines 6-8 contain an important shift in tone. After five lines of concrete, detailed imagery, the speaker makes his first abstract claim: by working hard to prepare food for her family, the speaker’s mother was “giving love the only way she knew.” This is also the poem’s first reference to emotion—something the mother had difficulty managing. As the poem goes on, it becomes clear that the speaker, and indeed the whole family, shares this difficulty.
- The way the mother gives love is by showing it rather than saying it. She doesn’t verbalize the emotion, but she acts on it by feeding her husband and child: “In each cheap cut of meat, in roast and stew, / Old-fashioned food she cooked and we ate.” Notice the speaker’s ambivalence even here. It’s not that the food is particularly delicious: it’s “cheap” and “Old-fashioned.” What matters is, it’s there: it takes time and effort to prepare each night, and it keeps the family going.
- At the end of the day, “she cooked and we ate.” There’s a strong hint of imbalance here, as the speaker never specifies what or how much “we” did in return. Did the speaker perform household chores? Did the father hold down a job and help provide for the family? The poem doesn’t say: it simply focuses on how hard the mother works within the confines of the home. (She seems confined, too, by the traditional gender roles of her class and era. As a middle-class or perhaps working-class Englishwoman of the mid-20th century, she seems to get no relief from this endless cycle of cooking and cleaning.)
5
Q
But lately had …
… he was dead.
A
- Lines 14-16 contain a poignant, ironic twist on the lines before. The speaker has noted that his mother didn’t wear her “rings” while her husband was alive. These would have included her wedding ring, as well as, perhaps, her engagement ring and/or other jewelry her husband gave to her. “But lately”—that is, in the years preceding her death—she “had never been without” these rings, “as if / She wanted everyone to know she was his wife / Only now that he was dead.” In other words, she grew more attached to her wedding ring, etc., as a widow than she was as a wife.
- This detail points to a family life full of emotional tension: a home in which love often went unexpressed, or else was expressed belatedly and indirectly. Notice that, throughout this passage (and the poem), the speaker awkwardly avoids any direct reference to “my mother” or “my father.” Instead, the speaker refers only to “she” and “he” and leaves the reader to work out the situation. It’s a strange, avoidant gesture—but then this whole family seems to have been emotionally avoidant, or repressed, for much of their lives.
- The poem seems to be drawing a parallel, here, between her situation and the speaker’s. Both have known loss and grief: it’s one of the things that connects them. The speaker presumably mourned his father and is now mourning his mother as well. He seems to have struggled to show love openly to both parents—so the poem itself can be read as a belated, indirect expression of that love. In other words, repression and regret appear to be multi-generational trends in this family.
5
Q
And I saw …
… a holiday “abroad”)
A
- Lines 9-13 continue the character sketch of the speaker’s mother, describing a few of her mementos and keepsakes. The title “Effects” refers, in part, to the personal effects the mother has with her on her deathbed, and the speaker introduces the first of these here: “her rings.”
- Taking all these details together, it seems that the mother has long since put her youth away for safekeeping. Perfumes and combs suggest a concern for appearance, a desire for elegance, an interest in dating and courtship, etc., all “long-forgotten” now. The rings are relics of her early romance with her husband—a romance that seems to have faded quickly during the marriage itself. Even the old family snapshots belong to a much earlier period of her life than the one the poem describes. She preserved these keepsakes, but for much of her life, she wasn’t all that sentimentally attached to them.
5
Q
And her watch? …
… shows I’d disdain
A
- In lines 16-20, the speaker’s attention shifts from the “rings” to another of his mom’s personal “Effects.” This item was one she really treasured: “her watch.”
- This watch was a “Classic ladies’ model” of the era, with a “gold strap”: undoubtedly one of the fancier things the mom owns. (It’s a little ambiguous as to where exactly this family falls on the socioeconomic spectrum—working class, lower middle class, etc.—but suffice it to say, they don’t have a lot of gold jewelry in their home.) Unlike her “rings,” the mom wore this item all the time: the speaker has “never known her not have that on.” She wore it through “all the years” she and her husband “sat together” in front of the TV, “Watching soaps and game shows” the speaker would “disdain.”
6
Q
And not when …
… days, she’d heard;
A
- Lines 21-25 continue the theme of generational change. As the mother ages and begins to decline, it becomes the speaker’s “turn […] to cook for her.” (Note that her husband is long dead by this time, and the speaker seems to be her only child—or at least her only child living nearby.) But she’s not eager to try any new dishes or cuisines. Instead, she says “she prefer[s]” the “Familiar flavours” she grew up with: “Chops” (e.g. lamb, veal, or pork chops), “chicken portions,” and other “English, bland” meals.
- That dismissive “English, bland” implies that the speaker does prefer more flavorful foreign cuisine. In general, he seems to distance himself from “English[ness]” in something of the same way he’s distanced himself from his family and upbringing.
7
Q
Not all the …
… with him again;
A
- In lines 26-32, the speaker continues describing scenarios in which his mother did “Not” take off her watch. Since she always had the watch on, this device becomes a way of reflecting on her life and experiences as a whole.
- Since the speaker wasn’t visiting during these weeks, he may be imagining or surmising how she spent her time alone. Or maybe, when he did visit, he got a firsthand sense of how many drinks she’d been “pour[ing]” herself. (Notice how “poured” falls right before an enjambment, so that the phrase itself seems to pour over from one line to the next.)
- In any case, this life of “Drink after drink” sounds a lot like the repetitive cycle of addiction. The mother seems to have developed a drinking problem in the wake of her husband’s death, but grief and loneliness aren’t the only reasons. It seems her husband was a big drinker of “scotch,” and though “she wouldn’t touch” the stuff when he was alive (perhaps because his drinking caused conflict in the home), she now over-consumes it as a “way to be with him again.” In other words, the liquor helps her feel closer to him, even if it wrecks her health. (That sluggish “Heavin[g],” “blinking,” and “star[ing]” hints at some damage to her physique and mental acuity.) Once again, the mother has become more sentimental about her marriage as a widow than she was as a wife—though, even now, she remains outwardly stoic.
8
Q
While the TV …
… drooled, and swore…
A
- Lines 38-41 describe the atmosphere inside the “psychiatric ward” where the speaker’s dying mother has been committed. It’s a troubling and painful scene. Until now, the poem has contained very little sonic imagery, but here sound comes “blar[ing]” in
- Her “pills” seem to have a narcotic function, too: she “blink[s] and stare[s]” after taking them, as if she’s zoning out. But even if they take the edge off this frightening place, she’s still in that place, and can’t escape it. The mother calls her most anguished fellow patients “poor soul[s],” but ironically, she’s in pretty much the same situation they are. Thus, her phrase could either be read as empathetic—a hint of the compassion she usually has trouble showing—or as patronizing and un-self-aware. (To the speaker and the reader, she’s one of the poor souls, trapped in a kind of hell before death.) This small ambiguity reflects the larger conflicts surrounding this mother-child relationship. In other words, mother and speaker seem to have felt love for each other, but they struggled to communicate that love—to the point where even their closest moments are ambiguous and troubling.
8
Q
Not later in …
… and learned contempt,
A
- In lines 33-37, the poem shifts setting. As the speaker’s mother declined, she eventually had to be transferred from her home (the speaker’s family home) to a “psychiatric ward.” It’s implied that she was admitted to this hospital ward as a geriatric psychiatry, or psychogeriatrics, patient: an elderly person coping with the mental decline that often accompanies old age. Whatever mental health problems she struggled with during her younger years, in other words, she remained lucid until she approached the end.
- The speaker’s “contempt” for her seems to have cast a particular shadow over her later years. The poem suggests a few reasons for this contempt, such as differences in education and taste. Mother and child stood on opposite sides of a generation gap (seemingly the one that separated many baby boomers from their parents around the 1960s and ’70s), and their different upbringings imposed a kind of class divide as well. The speaker saw his mother’s “Old-fashioned” preferences (line 8) as stifling and conservative, and despite the love he felt deep down, responded with more “contempt” than empathy. (That empathy deficit may be a flaw they share: witness the mother’s suspicion of the nurses.)
9
Q
The last words …
… effects to me.
A
- Lines 47-50 finish describing the aftermath of the mother’s death. The speaker quotes his mother’s “last words”: a poignant, desperate “Please don’t leave.” But the speaker confesses that “of course I left” at some point—why and for how long, he doesn’t explain. Perhaps he went home after visiting hours were over, or perhaps he just took a break from sitting bedside and walked down the hall. Regardless, he missed the moment of his mother’s death—a fact that seems to haunt him.
- The mother also cannot “turn her face to see” what happens next: “A nurse bring[s]” the speaker “the little bag” of the mother’s personal “effects.” This final image calls back to the title and brings the poem full circle. Symbolically, it’s as if the nurse is handing the speaker the mother’s legacy: not only the personal keepsakes that meant most to her, but also the memories and feelings attached to them. In a metaphorical sense, “her effects”—the impact of her life and death—will go on haunting the speaker long after the poem’s conclusion. This “little bag” stands in for a heavy burden.
9
Q
But now she …
… my sleeve –
A
- The “thick rubber band” is a rubber hospital bracelet, which might contain other patient ID information along with her name. The “smudg[ing]” of “her name” seems symbolic here, reflecting her loss of identity in death. It’s also “all she wore” on her hand in that moment: her rings and watch—other markers of her identity and personality—are gone.
- Once again, the speaker pays close attention to the appearance of the hand itself. (It’s his last moment with his mother, so this detailed recollection makes emotional sense.) The hand is “blotched and crinkled”—that is, age-spotted and wrinkled—as well as completely still. The mother can no longer do any of the things the speaker remembers her doing (cooking, drinking, etc.), or even make the characteristic gestures of her old age. The speaker describes the latter in a strongly alliterative passage:
10
Q
The Watch
A
- The watch is one of the personal “Effects” that the speaker is startled to see removed from his mother’s body. It’s one of her favorite items—something the speaker has “never known” her not to wear—and as the poem goes on, it takes on symbolic significance as well. It’s a symbol of time itself: the ticking clock that governs all our lives and runs out when we die. In other words, it’s a reminder of human beings’ shared mortality. That the mother’s watch is gone—no longer ticking on her wrist—symbolically reflects the fact that she has died.
- For the mother, the watch might also have symbolized a certain pride and status. It’s a “Classic ladies’ model” with a “gold strap”: a nice item that stands out amidst her modest, middle-class home and lifestyle. Most of her other vanity-type items (“scent-sprays,” etc.) are tucked away in a “drawer,” but she uses this one all the time. It’s not exactly individual flair, since it’s a “Classic” model, but perhaps it represented a little bit of feminine elegance amid her humdrum routine of domestic chores, TV, and so on.
11
Q
The Bag of Effects
A
- When the speaker’s mother dies, a hospital nurse gives the speaker “a little bag of her effects.” These are personal effects: small items on her person, such as the “rings” and “watch” mentioned in lines 10 and 16. But the pun on “effects” (think consequences, ramifications, etc.) gives these items symbolic meaning as well. The rings and watch alone set off a whole chain of associations in the speaker’s memory: reflections on the mother’s personality, the speaker’s formative home life, etc. Symbolically, then, it’s as if the nurse is handing the speaker the mother’s legacy.
- This legacy is extremely complicated and fraught, as it is in many families. The bag of effects reminds the speaker, for example, that their mom never wore her engagement and wedding rings while married, but began wearing them after her husband died. This detail, in turn, suggests that the mother (and the family in general) struggled to express love, but felt it nonetheless and expressed it in painfully indirect ways.
- Broadly, the bag shows how even the smallest items linked with a lost loved one can seem to sum up their whole personality. These “effects” may fit in the speaker’s hand, but they carry the weight of a lifetime.
12
Q
Form
A
- “Effects” unfolds over the course of a single long stanza (50 lines in all). This form helps capture the speaker’s rush of memories; it’s as if the flood is too unstoppable to be dammed by stanza breaks.
- The poem’s long, complex sentences add to this effect. In fact, there are only three sentences here, spanning lines 1-16,(“I held her hand […] Only now that he was dead.”), 16-41, (“And her watch […] and swore…”), and 42-50 (“But now she lay here […] effects to me”)—and the second of these doesn’t even end so much as trail off with an ellipsis. Again, the speaker’s flow of thought takes on an intense, headlong momentum, which typical sentence structures can barely hold in check.
- At the same time, there are formal elements that keep the poem from spiraling into total wildness. “Effects” uses a loose approximation of iambic pentameter (lines with five metrical feet following an unstressed-stressed syllable pattern—da-DUM, da-DUM, etc.). There are lots of variations on this pattern, but the poem returns to it as a kind of anchor. The poem also uses an irregular rhyme pattern, which links nearly every line with another—or two others—at some point (either through full or slant rhyme). Both meter and rhyme are unpredictable, in other words, but they’re there.
- The result suggests a running tug-of-war between disorder and order, or between the speaker’s messy flow of emotions, memories, etc. and the poet’s attempt to gather them into a coherent structure.
