After Making Love We Hear Footsteps Analysis
Poetry is able to be interpreted in many different ways. There is not a right or wrong answer in poetry. It is just what you imagine or interpret when reading poems. And it’s no different with the poem “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps” by Galway Kinnell, can be interpreted in many different ways. First, when reading just the title it may seem like forbidden love, after consummating their love for one another, with making love, they soon start to panic over the footsteps they hear in fear of getting caught and being restrained from ever seeing each other, similar to “Romeo and Juliet”, with forbidden love. But then as you actually read the actual poem, you come to find out the footsteps are from their little boy. From reading the poem,
in the beginning it may just seem as two lovers having sexual intercourse, then it transitions into the two lovers becoming parents because their little boy heard a noise and awoke from being scared. In lines 1-5, “For I can snore like a bullhorn or play loud music or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman and Fergus will only sink deeper into his dreamless sleep”, the writer is conveying the fact that their son, Fergus is able to sleep through loud noises, but as soon as him and his spouse get intimate, it seems to wake him up. In lines 6-9, “but let there be that heavy breathing or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house and he will wrench himself awake and make for it on the run”, it shows that when the parents were being intimate, the noise woke Fergus up and he came dashing to their room, in the middle of their love making session. In lines 9-11, “as now, we lie together, after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies, familiar touch of the long-married”, Kinnell focuses on the love and affection between the couple. As well as, showing how long the couple has been together, with the quote from line 11, “familiar touch of the long-married”.
Kinnell uses a lot of imagery in this poem. From sexual imagery to all of a sudden a little boy in his baseball pajamas. In the beginning, the tone was an intimate tone, when it was just the two in the bed, later on their son joining them. As the poem progressed, the tone turned into a sentimental and passionate tone, with the lines 16-20, “In the half darkness we look at each other and smile and touch arms across this little, startlingly muscled body this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making, sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake, this blessing love gives again into our arms.”
In “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps”, Kinnell depicts the connection and love between the parents and their child, as well as, showing and telling the difference between sex and love. Many people may not look at it this way, but there is a big difference between sex and love. Anyone can have sex with no strings attached, feelings, and emotions. Where as making love is all of the feelings and emotions combine to create an indestructible, loving relationship. This poem also depicts in the beginning the male was upset with the son interrupting their love making session, but as soon as Fergus jumps onto the bed and snuggles with them, he forgets everything and just lives in the moment of how him and his spouse created this human being, that keeps their relationship strong and going.
in the beginning it may just seem as two lovers having sexual intercourse, then it transitions into the two lovers becoming parents because their little boy heard a noise and awoke from being scared. In lines 1-5, “For I can snore like a bullhorn or play loud music or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman and Fergus will only sink deeper into his dreamless sleep”, the writer is conveying the fact that their son, Fergus is able to sleep through loud noises, but as soon as him and his spouse get intimate, it seems to wake him up. In lines 6-9, “but let there be that heavy breathing or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house and he will wrench himself awake and make for it on the run”, it shows that when the parents were being intimate, the noise woke Fergus up and he came dashing to their room, in the middle of their love making session. In lines 9-11, “as now, we lie together, after making love, quiet, touching along the length of our bodies, familiar touch of the long-married”, Kinnell focuses on the love and affection between the couple. As well as, showing how long the couple has been together, with the quote from line 11, “familiar touch of the long-married”.
Kinnell uses a lot of imagery in this poem. From sexual imagery to all of a sudden a little boy in his baseball pajamas. In the beginning, the tone was an intimate tone, when it was just the two in the bed, later on their son joining them. As the poem progressed, the tone turned into a sentimental and passionate tone, with the lines 16-20, “In the half darkness we look at each other and smile and touch arms across this little, startlingly muscled body this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making, sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake, this blessing love gives again into our arms.”
In “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps”, Kinnell depicts the connection and love between the parents and their child, as well as, showing and telling the difference between sex and love. Many people may not look at it this way, but there is a big difference between sex and love. Anyone can have sex with no strings attached, feelings, and emotions. Where as making love is all of the feelings and emotions combine to create an indestructible, loving relationship. This poem also depicts in the beginning the male was upset with the son interrupting their love making session, but as soon as Fergus jumps onto the bed and snuggles with them, he forgets everything and just lives in the moment of how him and his spouse created this human being, that keeps their relationship strong and going.