Beginning Of The Summer In June example essay topic

"Summer Love" is a poem written by Marilyn Chin about a girl's range of emotion as she experiences uncommitted relationships over her summer vacation. The girl starts out detached from any sort of serious feelings for her partner. As the poem progresses she expresses lust and gets physical with her partner which then causes her to be concerned over her brief, uncommitted encounters and the possibility of playing with someone else's emotions. It is determined that the speaker in the poem is female when it says "vulva", which is female-only anatomy. The speaker also has a carefree attitude. She appears to be apathetic towards her partners over the summer and is quite optimistic at the end when she decides not to worry about things.

The poem has shifts in settings. In the first stanza she is cooking and she asks her partner not to stay long. This implies that they are at her dwelling. You could also assume that they are someplace near the ocean because she is cooking bay oysters for breakfast. In the second stanza the word "moonlight" lets you know it is set outdoors, at night. They are at some sort of function, probably a dance, because "a thousand tired eyes" infers that there are a lot of people there and then once she notices her partner they "dance".

The third stanza is reflective and has no real setting until the last line, "two lovers in a field of floss and iris... ". However this comes across more as a daydream than an actual place. The situation that the girl comes to be in is her considering how to feel about her actions.

She gives some reasons of why she might get into these short-lived relationships. She is concerned about what her partner might think about her in terms of her morals or the possibility that this is a once in a lifetime chance for her. She does mention her partner's feelings of being troubled so she feels some guilt for playing with emotions. "Perhaps, I fear, there will not be another like you.

/ Or you might walk away in the same face of the others- / -blue with scorn and a troubled life."Summer Love" contains multiple tones. It begins with a tone that is cold and apathetic. As she cooks breakfast she states in a very as-a-matter-of-fact tone that if you (her partner) don't like what she's cooking that's "too bad". She is not out to please anyone but herself. She makes a point to be rid of her partner as soon as possible after spending the night together, which shows that she keeps her emotions out of it and remains detached from her partner. It is also interesting to note that she is cooking dried lotus for breakfast in the morning.

When referring to Greek legend, lotus is a plant that induces "a state of dreamy and contented forgetfulness in those who eat it". (Webster's 804.) This is exactly what she is aiming for that morning. Moving on and forgetting about "last night's love", implying that the love that was expressed the night before is no longer there in the morning. It is a one-time thing. The second stanza has a contrary tone to that of the first.

The tone is lust and desire. It begins with her talking about her physical attraction to her partner's "belly" and "skin". When the two dance she seems to be swept away in desire. "Fog thickens" meaning she can't really focus on what is going on around them, they " re being engulfed and letting the "distinctions falter" in the sense of coming together as one. The stanza gets quite sexual at the end, "I let you touch me where I am most vulnerable, / heart of the vulva, vulva of the heart". Here in combining a sexual, physical word such as vulva with a strong emotional word like heart, she is saying that by touching her where she is most vulnerable sexually she's also going to be touched emotionally.

It is in the final stanza that we do get the feeling that she does care about things more than she lets on. The tone is contemplative and optimistic. She begins questioning herself and giving reasons why she might engage in these types of relationships. She speculates about her partner's feelings of how they might think about her. When she says, "you might walk away in the same face of the others", this implies that this isn't the first time she's been in this situation and experienced the negative reactions of her partners. She puts aside her worries and comes up with her own solution to enjoy the summers while they last.

To only concern herself with the simplicity of being "two lovers in a field of floss and iris- / where nothing else matters but the dew and the light". She doesn't want things to be complicated, only simple like dew and light. The title "Summer Love" has a meaning to the girl's situation and the theme of the poem. When you think of summer love you think of a brief relationship where both parties know that by the end of the summer they will have to go their separate ways. It is usually a relationship that's fun and exciting and lasts only June, July and August, the few months of summer when on vacation from school or work.

The structure of the poem is formed in three separated stanzas. Each separate one has a different tone and setting. The separation of the stanzas represents the distance from her partner during her summer relationships. Each stanza could also be a representation of the summer months, June, July and August. The first stanza represents the beginning of the summer in June when she is uncommitted and cold towards her partner. In the second stanza, July, things get a little more serious and heat up between the two and the final stanza which would be August, she is nearing the end of summer and the end of the relationship and she has to come to a conclusion about how she feels.

Overall this poem speaks of non-committed relationships and the toying of emotions that accompany them. It shows how attached yet unattached the couple is and the confusion that follows. It takes you along the same emotional ride as the girl. You start out wondering why she is so cold and apathetic and then changes her mood to excitement when meeting someone and being swept away with desire. Finally it all comes together and you get a greater understanding about how she feels when she gives you her reasoning for doing these "summer loves". norton intro to literature shorter 8th ed.