Question

What is the poem "Like Bookends" by Eve Merriam about? I need help analyzing it, and how does it connect to the poet and the speaker in the poem?


Like bookends
my father at one side
my mother at the other

propping me up
b​ut unable to read
what I feel.

Were they born with clothes on?
Born with rules on?

When we sit at the dinner table
10 ​we smooth our napkins into polite folds.
How was your day dear
Fine
And how was yours dear
Fine
And how was school
The same

Only once in a while
when we’re not trying so hard
when we’re not trying at all
our napkins suddenly whirl away
and we float up to the ceiling
where we sing and dance until it hurts from laughing

and then we float down
with our napkin parachutes
and once again spoon our soup
and pass the bread please.

Answer 1

Answer:

This poem tells how a girl is forced to follow the rules without being able to experience them for herself.

Explanation:

This poem is narrated by a little girl who claims that her parents are educating her and forcing her to follow rules, but they do not see that this is not what she wants.

"propping me up

but unable to read

what I feel "

The girl also claims that they were not born with rules, and it is somewhat unfair for her to have to live it now.

This could be connected to the speaker and the poet since she could be describing her own childhood and her own parents.

Answer 2

Answer:

The poem "Like Bookends" by Eve Merriam is about a forced and strained relationship between a child and her parents.

Explanation:

From the poem, the writer describes how he lives with his parents and how forced and strained their relationship is because the writer feels that his parents are always trying to be proper and rigid and how "Only once in a while when we’re not trying so hard  when we’re not trying at all...we sing and dance until it hurts from laughing".

According to the writer, most other times the relationship is forced and how questions about school is asked and the reply is an automatic "fine" without connecting on a deeper level. At a point, the writer begins to wonder if they were "born with rules on" and how the writer is "unable to read  what I feel."

The poem also connects to the poet Eve Merriam because as a little child, she did not always feel free to express her concerns about social issues.