The poems, “Elegy For a stillborn” and “Overseer Story” review
The poems, “Elegy For a stillborn” and “Overseer Story” depict the sorrows two women go through during their pregnancy. In the “Elegy for a stillborn”, a woman weeps because her child is dead before she could hold it and take care of it with everything she has prepared for the birth. In the “Overseer Story” a woman reflects the agony she went through in the hands of her tormentor, who beats her while she is pregnant. This paper provides the similarities and the differences between “Elegy For a stillborn” and “Overseer Story.”
The two poems, “Elegy For a Stillborn” and the “Overseer Story”, are similar in that in both poems, the personas are women who go through difficult times during their pregnancies. For instance, in the “Elegy For a stillborn”, the persona laments that despite all the sacrifices she made to prepare for the birth of her child, she was never going to hold it. She says, “Here is the sheet I stole soap and washed in secret, to catch him when he came” (Maples 35). This demonstrates that despite not having soap, she did everything, including stealing, to ensure that her child had a clean start.
On the other hand, in the “Overseer Story” the persona recalls how her tormentor, who is probably her enslaver beat her while she was pregnant. In the poem, she explains that “He dug a hole in the ground in the shape of my big belly” (Maples 33). The reason her belly is big is that she is pregnant. The persona expresses her meaning in a language that symbolizes the opposite of what she experienced. In this case, it is a humorous irony because she is trying to attach a sense of humor to the painful ordeal her tormenter put her through.
Another similarity between the poems is that the two women are poor and weak. In the “Elegy for a Stillborn,” the woman is poor. In the poem, she says, “take the old dresser drawer I meant for a cradler” (Maples 35). This portrays the level of poverty of the woman since she could not afford to buy a cradle. In the “Overseer Story,” the woman is also evidently poor and weak, and that is why her oppressor is beating her. Both women are probably slaves who are bullied and humiliated by their owners.
Despite the striking similarity between the poems, they are different in various ways. For instance, in the “Elegy for a Stillborn,” the woman mourns because she gave birth to a dead child. On the contrary, in “Overseer Story,” the woman has a healthy pregnancy. She says, “and what with the little one kickin’ my insides” (Maples 33). This is to show that her baby is alive despite the pain she bears as her persecutor is beating her.
The two poems are also different in that while in the “Elegy for stillbirth” the woman is lamenting, the “Overseer Story” is more of a reflection of the hard times that preceded better days. This is because the poet indicates that it is told with a smile.
The personas in the “Elegy for a Stillborn” and “Overseer Story” are women who go through tough times while they are pregnant. In the “Elegy for a stillborn,” a woman has had a stillbirth while in “Overseer Story”, a woman is pregnant and is alive but is being tormented by her oppressor who makes her lie down on her stomach and beats her mercilessly.