A Comparison Between the Poems `Toys` and `Any Woman`by Smitha K, GHSS Kattoor, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur

 

A Comparison Between the Poems `Toys` and `Any Woman`by Smitha K, GHSS Kattoor, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur

A Comparison Between the Poems `Toys` and `Any Woman`

A reading of the poem 'Toys'definitely makes me think of the poem 'Any Woman'by Katharine Tynan. Why I feel so is because of the theme dealt within both poems and of course for some other aspects found. There are similarities as well as differences between them. For instance while analysing the theme /content, the poem 'Any Woman'projects the importance of woman/mother in a house. Thoughts strike to realise how important is her presence for a  healthy and balanced state of family. She is the pillars, keystone, roof, walls and the fire upon the hearth. 'The woman' is felt in the poem as a living energy in everything whereas in the poem 'Toys'we hear about 'the mother' who is no more. The father and the son in 'Toys'are affected in the absence of the mother. Had there been the mother alive, things would have been easier for them. It is the mother who makes a house a home. In that sense, both poems are two ways of praising motherhood.

The poem 'Any Woman' is read as a universal prayer to god while the poem 'Toys'is in the form of a complaint and confession. In 'Any Woman'the mother/woman is the persona/speaker whereas in 'Toys'it is the father figure. The woman in 'Any Woman'suffers for the sake of her loving ones. She does never complain. But the father in 'Toys'finds it hard without his son's mother. If we see a patient woman accepting all pains silently in 'Any Woman', in 'Toys'we see a man weeping out of extreme grief /pain. He is rather impatient  and struggles to deal with situations. It makes one wonder how can a man be so emotional! Both poems have biblical allusions. For example we have the picture of Holy Mother laying little Jesus in manger in 'Any Woman'. And in 'Toys', numbers six and seven mentioned, the idea of man's creation out of clay, the indication of merciful creator God/Father. Even though 'Toys'praises the unconditional love and care of God/Universal Father, it deals with the conditional or changing love of man/father. But in 'Any Woman'the love and protective powers of woman/mother is unconditional and it is even equal to that of God.

There are concrete images coming in both poems. 'Any Woman'contains visual (the hearth, the house), and tactile (heat and cold) images. 'Toys'contains visual (lashes, blue bells...),auditory (spoke, sobbing), and kinesthetic (dismissed- the related movement in poem) images. Analysing the rhyme scheme 'Any Woman'follows  abab pattern except for the first stanza. But 'Toys'sets an irregular pattern.

To sum up the analysis, 'Any Woman'thinks of the possible ways of treating emotions in a very controlled way whereas 'Toys'tries to liberate emotions.

-Prepared by Smitha K, GHSS Kattoor, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur