How Does Clarke Tell The Idea Of Conflict In Catrin

How does Clarke depict the idea of conflict and confrontation in Catrin?
Throughout this poem, Clarke uses many techniques, primarily the extended metaphor to strikingly depict the pain but also affection felt in the inevitable separation between a mother and daughter.
The effective use of the free verse and enjambment by Clarke solely portrays this on-going separation between a mother and daughter, therefore fully lending itself to the first person narrative showing the naturalistic nature of the mother’s perspective. The use of the daughters name “Catrin” in the title additionally heightens the notion of separation as itself is used to portray specific uniqueness of the child when brought into the world. However the fact that the name is not mentioned again throughout the poem depicts a more universal feel to the poem-therefore presenting Clarke potentially emphasising the universal pain felt between a mother and a daughter; both physically and mentally. Clarke’s exploration of separation is permeated throughout Catrin, the visual break being expressed through the structural break between the two stanzas, where Clarke effectively depicts the sharp split in the bond between the
mother and the daughter, thus showing a more subtle aspect of conflict in a domestic fashion.
Nevertheless the amplified and recurring theme of separation is hinged upon the pivotal extended metaphor of the umbilical cord, the physical binding of the mother and daughter up until birth, when Clarke brilliantly shows the initial pain and suffering surrounding the mother separating from her daughter through her brilliant use of verbs and adjectives which strongly connote a pain or anger such as “hot, white” “struggle” and “fierce confrontation”.
‘Struggle’ is perhaps the most effective as it potently empahsises the sheer pain and the battle the mother had to endure to separate from her daughter along with “Separate.” where the clever use of punctuation by Clarke not only visually ‘separates’ the word from the sentence but also fully injects the recurring theme in this
poem.
The second stanza again brings in the theme of separation however this time Clarke expresses this separation through the mother’s daughter whom we assume is ‘Catrin’. The daughter is portrayed as “straight, strong, long Brown hair” thus showing her strength as a person and therefore the mother’s pain and suffering in seeing her daughter independent. Consequently, Clarke is graphically depicting the separation between a mother and daughter when the daughter wants to become independent and herself which is fully expressed through the synonymous verb “skate” connoting freedom and liberation and therefore metaphorically compounds the idea of separation in this stanza. The metaphorical meaning of ‘skate’ as a result lends itself perfectly to the ending line where Clarke writes “skate In the dark” which depicts the idea of being in the unknown and therefore emphasising the mothers worry for her child being independent and going into the ‘dark’ of the unknown. This ultimately causes the idea of separation to be fully explored in the poem Catrin- both physically and metaphorically through Clarke’s effective use of poetic techniques.