Genetics Flashcards
(13 cards)
1
Q
Family and inheritance
A
- The speaker of “Genetics” reflects that their hands contain traits inherited from both their father and mother and thus serve as a reminder that the speaker’s parents “made” them. The speaker knows, too, that they will one day pass down similar traits to their own children. In this way, the poem illustrates how people’s ancestors live on in their bodies, which offer a comforting, grounding sense of connection to the past—and, ultimately, to the future.
- Having inherited their father’s fingers and their mother’s palms, the speaker looks at their hands “with pleasure.” In proving that their parents “made” them, the speaker’s hands lend them a sense of belonging; they know that they’re the product of love and part of a family line.
- The poem goes on to suggest that, even though human relationships are frail and changeable, the speaker’s body remains a stable record of the past. The speaker’s parents are no longer together, having “repelled” each other “to separate lands,” but they still “touch” where their traits meet in the speaker’s hands. Though there’s “nothing left of their togetherness,” the speaker’s hands are evidence that their parents were once a couple. The speaker’s very existence thus preserves pieces of both their parents as well as a specific moment in time.
2
Q
Marriage and Relationships
A
- In addition to commenting on the ways in which genetic inheritance connects people to their pasts, “Genetics” also illustrates how drastically relationships can change over time. The speaker’s parents are no longer married, and the speaker now serves as the only record of their “togetherness.” In other words, the product of their marriage, the child, outlived the relationship itself. In this way, the poem speaks to the unpredictability of relationships; romantic love, “Genetics” suggests, isn’t always as steadfast as people may hope.
- The speaker’s existence proves that their parents were once close enough to have a child. Their mother and father still “touch” where the speaker’s fingers and palms meet. In this sense, the speaker’s body is their parent’s “marriage register,” physical proof that they were once together.
- Since having their child, however, the speaker’s parents have “been repelled to separate lands.” In other words, they’ve broken up and now live far apart. The word “repelled” implies that there’s little, if any, warmth between them these days. They both might “sleep with other lovers,” the speaker adds, hammering home the idea that each has moved on. Indeed, the speaker says that there’s no “togetherness” left in their relationship, which has changed from being romantic to merely cordial.
3
Q
Identity and New Beginnings
A
- Though the speaker’s parents have separated, this doesn’t prevent the speaker from wanting to start a family of their own. At the end of the poem, the speaker turns to their partner and asks them to “take up the skin’s demands / for mirroring in bodies of the future”—in other words, to have children together, whose “bodies” will reflect the speaker and their partner. The fact that the speaker wants to embark on this journey with someone conveys their hope that history won’t simply repeat itself—that they won’t end up in a failed marriage as their parents did. Rather than being an exact replica of the past, the poem suggests, each generation is unique—and thus represents a chance for a new beginning.
- The speaker thus isn’t doomed to repeat their parent’s patterns because, connected as they may be, they’re not the same people. Ultimately, genetics combine to create children who are entirely new, independent individuals. In this way, the poem suggests that children don’t simply preserve the past, but also offer a chance for a fresh start.
3
Q
My father’s in …
… by my hands.
A
- The speaker begins the poem by describing their hands, which reflect traits inherited from both their father and mother. The speaker doesn’t merely say that their hands look like their parents’ hands; instead, the speaker claims that their parents are “in” their fingers and palms, as though both parents maintain a physical presence within the speaker’s body.
- The parallel grammar of this opening line emphasizes the fact that the speaker is a combination of their parents—that they’re equally part of their father and mother. Note, too, how a caesura breaks the line cleanly in half, separating the speaker’s parents from each other
- “Genetics” is also something called a villanelle, meaning its first and third lines will be repeated (albeit with some variation) at the ends of the following stanzas. Keep an eye out for this repetition.
4
Q
They may have …
… link to palms.
A
- The speaker reveals that their parents are no longer together. They’ve been “repelled to separate lands,” meaning they live far from each other, and “may sleep with other lovers.”
- The word “repelled” implies that they actively dislike each other, while the words “lands” and “hemispheres” conveys a vast sense of distance. The diacope of “to separate,” meanwhile (“repelled to separate lands, / to separate hemispheres”), hammers home the fact that these two people have split up. There are no longer romantic feelings between the parents, who are neither emotionally nor geographically close.
5
Q
With nothing left …
… by my hands.
A
- The speaker’s parents are no longer romantically involved. Now, the speaker says, the only thing left of their former “togetherness” is tentative friendship.
- The speaker uses a complex metaphor to describe the nature of this relationship, calling their parents “friends who quarry for their image by a river.” Quarrying involves extracting stones or minerals from the ground. That they quarry “for their image” suggests that the parents are searching or digging for some reflection of their partnership that’s been buried over the years.
- By contrast, the speaker can see their marriage clearly anytime they look at their hands—something concrete and durable, a lasting “image” of their parent’s “togetherness.”
- The “at least” in the final line of this stanza implies that the speaker is happy to have proof that their parents “made” them. For the speaker, inherited traits provide not just a sense of belonging, but also a window into the world as it once was.
6
Q
So take me …
… of the future.
A
- In the final stanza, the speaker brings a new person into the poem: their own partner, “you.” The speaker talks directly to this person, inviting them to have a child together. Doing so, the speaker says, is a matter of following “the skin’s demands.” In other words, it’s human nature to want to pass down one’s genetics—to see oneself reflected in “bodies of the future” (the next generation).
- The word “mirroring” also recalls the speaker’s previous description of their parents “quarry[ing] for their image by a river.” Those lines hinted at the fleeting, ephemeral nature of romantic relationships. This contrasts with the enduring connection created by having children.
- Note how the first two lines of this stanza use both asyndeton and anaphora, omitting any conjunction between “take me with you” and “take up the skin’s demands.” This makes the speaker sound more forceful and urgent. It also develops a contrast between these two commands
7
Q
I shape a …
… their marriage register.
A
- The speaker brings their fingertips together to create the “steeple” of a church. They then flip this “steeple” upside down, revealing the underside of their hands and their “father” and “mother” (again represented here by the speaker’s fingers and palms).
- The speaker then envisions their parents inside this “church” on their wedding day, “demure,” or quiet and humble, while listening to a “priest reciting psalms.”
- This omission pulls the two parts of the sentence (one describing the father’s fingers and the other describing the mother’s palms) closer together, which makes sense for lines devoted to recreating their wedding—a day when they would have been united.
8
Q
I’ll bequeath my …
… by our hands.
A
- First, the speaker forms a conditional statement. They promise to pass down their fingers if their partner passes down their palms, mirroring what their own parents did. This repeats the image of fingers and palms from the beginning of the poem, creating a parallel between the speaker’s parents’ generation and their own; the speaker is continuing the family line. Of course, the speaker’s partner brings an entirely new set of traits into the picture. The process of genetic inheritance might be repeated, but the outcome—the child—will not be exactly the same. Children reflect their parents, are mirrors for them, but not exact copies.
- The poem’s final line is then a variation of “I know my parents made me by my hands”—with one important shift: now, the speaker uses collective pronouns (we, us, our). This places the speaker’s personal experience within the broader human experience. Anyone—not just the speaker—can see where they came from by looking at their inherited traits.
8
Q
My body is …
… with my hands.
A
- These lines build on the imagery of the previous stanza, where the speaker reenacted their parents’ wedding using their hands. Now, the speaker says that their entire “body” is their parents’ “marriage register”—physical proof that their parents were once married.
- The speaker “re-act[s] their wedding” with their hands. Note that the final line of this stanza is a pretty big variation of the villanelle form. Remember, the line “I know my parents made me by my hands” repeats at the end of every other stanza. But here, the speaker changes that line quite a bite. While the original line is more passive (the speaker simply “know[s]”), this version is more active (the speaker “re-enact[s]”).
- This adds a new dimension to the speaker’s relationship with their parents. No longer does the speaker simply feel connected to their parents by looking at their inherited traits, but they actively bring their parents together—they marry them, one might say—with their hands. The speaker thus becomes a more active participant in their family history. This foreshadows the poem’s final stanza, in which the speaker decides to continue their family lineage by having a child of their own.
9
Q
Form
A
- “Genetics” is a villanelle. This means it has 19 lines broken into five tercets (or three-line stanzas) and one concluding quatrain (a four-line stanza).
- As a villanelle, “Genetics” also has two refrains that repeat (with variations) throughout the poem. These refrains come from the first and third lines of the first stanza, which then alternate as the final lines of each subsequent tercet. The repetition isn’t exact, but there’s a clear pattern with references to “hands” and “palms” in each refrain line.
- As readers can see, villanelles are very repetitive, circular poems. As such, this form is fitting for a poem about genetic inheritance and the way people are reflections of their parents. Readers might even think of these refrains as representing the speaker’s father’s fingers and their mother’s palms; the refrains echo throughout the poem, just as the speaker’s parents’ features appear within their own body.
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9
Q
Hands
A
- In “Genetics,” the speaker’s hands symbolize their connection to their mother and father. Quite literally, the speaker’s hands contain physical traits inherited from each parent: they have their father’s fingers and their mother’s palms. In this way, the speaker’s hands also represent their parents’ relationship—and the way that this relationship has made the speaker who they are.
- The speaker’s parents have separated, but they still “touch” where their traits meet in the speaker’s hands (“where fingers link to palms”). The speaker’s hands thus preserve a piece of the past and remind the speaker that they’re part of a family lineage. When the speaker declares at the end of the poem that they want to “bequeath [their] fingers” to a child of their own, this represents their desire to continue their family’s legacy.
10
Q
Rhyme scheme and meter
A
- “Genetics” follows a rough iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot that follows an unstressed-stressed syllable pattern, da-DUM, and pentameter simply means there are five iambs per line (for a total of 10 syllables).
- This meter lends the poem a sense of regularity and deliberateness—every syllable seems to be placed carefully. The poem feels musical and assured, while variations on this meter prevent it from becoming too stiff or predictable. Iambs are also often likened to the rhythm of a heartbeat, and they’re thus appropriate for a poem about genetics and inheritance.
- The poem doesn’t stick to this pattern all that strictly, however. For the most part, the poem uses slant rhymes (and some very subtle ones at that). For example, the two A rhymes in the first stanza are “palms”/”hands”—words with similar sounds, but which definitely aren’t perfect rhymes. The B rhymes are likewise subtle: “pleasure,” “lover,” “river,” etc.
- All in all, the poem’s rhyme sounds are related but not identical. As with the poem’s varying refrains, this reflects of the main thematic ideas in “Genetics”: that children inherit traits from their parents but are still unique individuals. Like these rhymes, children echo their parents rather than mimic them exactly.
