Anne Stevenson

Anne Stevenson

" I thought you were my victory /though you cut me like a knife"

(Stevenson 1-2)

The opening lines of Anne Stevenson's poem The Victory set a tone

of conflict. This poem, at its surface, expresses a mother's thoughts

on giving birth to a son. Stevenson describes the mixed feelings many

mothers have upon the delivery of their first born. The final release

from pregnancy and birthing pains, coupled with the excitement of

bringing a live creature into this world, at first seem a victory to

the new parent. The author goes on to confute the event as a victory.

Using words such as "antagonist" (5), "bruise" (6), and "scary"(13),

she shows the darker side of childbirth. The mother has felt her own

life's blood flowing that a stranger might live "The stains of your

glory bled from my veins." (6-8). That she sees her own child as a

stranger is evident in lines nine and ten, where the child is

described as a "blind thing" (9) with "blank insect eyes"(10). The

mother portrays her baby as a bug, not even human. In the last section

of the poem, two questions are asked, attesting to the mother's

internal conflict. "Why do I have to love you?/ How have you won?"

(15-16). These unanswerable queries are some of the fundamental

questions of our human existence.

Below the topmost layer of meaning in The Victory, is an

underlying theme that any parent or guardian will eas...

Anne Stevenson

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