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Emotion and Aunt Frieda Essay

Decent Essays

Vincent Davino
Dr. Fraustino
ENLT 121
5/12/10
“Analysis of Undressing Aunt Frieda” “Undressing Aunt Frieda,” is a poem about the narrator’s remembrance of his Aunts life while visiting her on a death bed. The narrative is in first person, and takes place as the narrator and his daughter are about to leave the relative. The first half of the poem explores Frieda and her past. The second half is about how the narrator and daughter have grown and learned from the aunt. While undressing her aunt, the narrator feels emotions and remembers his past with Frieda. The poem describes these emotions and memories in a metaphor explaining unique characteristics of how Aunt Frieda undressed, and how she impacted the relatives. The poem …show more content…

After the remembrance of how he was undressed, the speaker describes how Aunt Frieda would undress herself. Frieda undressed herself in her younger days. Her slow removal of clothes seemed like seduction. To the narrator, Frieda undressing herself represented a time of health, independence and youth, “I try to imagine her healthy, undressing herself “ (12). The speaker then remembers how her aunt’s body looked naked. She was a petite girl whose body had flaws. Her marks represent the tough times Frieda had growing up. The poem eludes that it was her inner beauty that stands out. It mentions two seventeenth century artists, Rubens and Rembrandt, who have different styles of work. I researched their work and found that Rubens is known for his very sensual and elegant work. In contrast, Rembrandt portrayed tragedy especially in his old age. Aunt Frieda’s life was not always glorious, and she endured many tough times. “ whose scarred beauty Ruben would surely have missed,/ but Rembrandt, in the loneliness of his dying days,/ might have been immortalized “ (16-18). The poem begins to wind down with the undressing of the newest generation, the daughter. Just like her dad used to as a child, she is getting tired. The daughter is old enough to understand that a person needs to remove clothing to get comfortable before sleep “she has learned, recently, to undress herself” (21). The narrator has passed the knowledge he has learned from Frieda to

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