Morning Song

Question 1

Key points

Answer 1

• Addresses the baby again, this time describing birth and the immediate aftermath.
• The tercets of varied line lengths reflect her insecurities as a new mother. Complex imagery also conveys conflicting feelings.
• Ends with an image of hope

Question 2

Theme of maternal awe and ambivalence

Answer 2

• ‘Morning Song’ depicts a new mother’s conflicting, ambivalent emotions about motherhood.
• On the one hand, the speaker clearly feels some degree of shock at her new role and disconnection from her baby.
• On the other hand, she also shows signs of a burgeoning maternal instinct and desires to nurture her child.
• Motherhood, for this speaker, is a tender but surreal experience—something that opens up a new world of intimacy, yet is also intensely disorienting.
• In fact, the speaker seems to feel disbelief at being a mother at all. She goes so far as to say that she’s not really the baby’s mother any more than a “cloud” is—a metaphor that evokes how surreal it feels for her to take on her new identity of “mother”.

Question 3

Key quotations

Answer 3

• ‘New statue’
• ‘Your nakedness shadows our safety’
• ‘Moth-breath’
• ‘Cow-heavy’ (speaker describes herself)