Renee Is Awesome
“Quickening” by Jeri Kroll Analysis
Renee Hunt
You shudder like the sleeping cat light as her whiskers tingling my wrist my body just knows you are there: a pulse, a twitch, a pinch, an eyelid closing floating as scraps of dream
I can’t quite recall each night I lie down hoping to dream you whole
With the idea of a growing baby in mind, this poem can be interpreted as if the character writing is in the early stages of pregnancy. “You shudder like a sleeping cat” gives imagery of a cat, curled up, occasionally trembling. This is much like a baby, growing in the womb assuming the fetal position. Cat’s generally hide or try to kind cozy places to sleep, which gives imagery as if the growing baby is still very small, and does not take up much space while it hides inside it’s mother, “light as her whiskers” gives indication as to how small and light the growing baby is. “My body just knows you are there, a pulse, a twitch, a pinch, and eyelid closing” molds the hopefulness, but unknowingness of the character writing. She might not be completely sure that she is pregnant, but it hoping that the things she feels aren’t deceiving her, as if she wants to believe that a baby is forming, but isn’t sure. “Floating as scraps of a dream I can’t quite recall” refers to two things. Scraps of a dream may be referring to the growth of the baby in the early stages of pregnancy. The baby is not yet complete yet, and hasn’t formed all of it’s limbs and organs. Using the word “Float” makes the growth and the position of the baby sound graceful. “I can’t quite recall” refers to the way we can only ever remember parts or sections of our dreams, the rest is blurred. It’s as if she is saying that her child is not complete, not whole, it is coming together but parts are missing still. “Hoping to dream you whole” is a very important line in the poem. She is hoping to dream the baby whole. Through out the whole poem, she has been constructing an image of an incomplete child,
Renee Hunt
You shudder like the sleeping cat light as her whiskers tingling my wrist my body just knows you are there: a pulse, a twitch, a pinch, an eyelid closing floating as scraps of dream
I can’t quite recall each night I lie down hoping to dream you whole
With the idea of a growing baby in mind, this poem can be interpreted as if the character writing is in the early stages of pregnancy. “You shudder like a sleeping cat” gives imagery of a cat, curled up, occasionally trembling. This is much like a baby, growing in the womb assuming the fetal position. Cat’s generally hide or try to kind cozy places to sleep, which gives imagery as if the growing baby is still very small, and does not take up much space while it hides inside it’s mother, “light as her whiskers” gives indication as to how small and light the growing baby is. “My body just knows you are there, a pulse, a twitch, a pinch, and eyelid closing” molds the hopefulness, but unknowingness of the character writing. She might not be completely sure that she is pregnant, but it hoping that the things she feels aren’t deceiving her, as if she wants to believe that a baby is forming, but isn’t sure. “Floating as scraps of a dream I can’t quite recall” refers to two things. Scraps of a dream may be referring to the growth of the baby in the early stages of pregnancy. The baby is not yet complete yet, and hasn’t formed all of it’s limbs and organs. Using the word “Float” makes the growth and the position of the baby sound graceful. “I can’t quite recall” refers to the way we can only ever remember parts or sections of our dreams, the rest is blurred. It’s as if she is saying that her child is not complete, not whole, it is coming together but parts are missing still. “Hoping to dream you whole” is a very important line in the poem. She is hoping to dream the baby whole. Through out the whole poem, she has been constructing an image of an incomplete child,