There’s a saying “I am a strong woman because a strong woman raised me”, indeed true! Whether it is a boy or girl, being raised by a mother who gives love and care will create a strong individual towards the vision. Therefore, it’s mostly defined that a child with constant attention from parents grows to be a well known figure in society.
However, raising a child has its own growing concerns for the future. Often dealing with society, a mother tries her best to provide a better environment for him or her.
She lives with immensely growing, intense doubt of how the future would turn out and how it would later affect the child. Being very observant about the surroundings, the mother always tries to properly handle him or her to suitable requirements.
Not much literature may have been written in these concerns, yet the few written have gained a lot of recognition through the years.
One such example is ‘Fear’ by Gabriela Mistral.
Written by a Chilean feminist, Lucila Alcayaga under the pseudonym name Gabriela Mistral. She has been less talked of through the recent years or the past decades. It may surprise you to know that she won the most prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature making herself to be the first Latin American woman to be presented by it. She greatly deserved it for her idealism on different themes.
Her poem ‘Fear’ extracted from Ternura (1924) includes a very sensitive topic, often not discussed in general or rather considered as important. The poem explicates how a mother withstands the fear of a child’s future. Lucila expresses her gratitude to all mothers on the planet by presenting the struggle of raising a child.
Being a feminist she strongly pangs the emotions into the reader’s heart. Consisting of three simple stanzas, this poetess converges the attention of the interested from them. It’s not wrongful to comment that she is cunning, judging straight from this move. Yet again she uses it for the most needed.
Mistral stages three metaphors each for one stanza to get in contact with us. The primary stanza starts with a storyline of a little girl transforming to a swallow, a high flying bird. Aiming to point out the theme, Lucila uses the child’s character bound to a metaphor of a bird that soars in the sky.
‘Little’
“I don’t want them to turn my little girl into a swallow,” stating a negative opinion from the first sentence, the writer explains that the mother has no desire to change the orientation of the future in any way.
Within this whole stanza, we experience how the mom thinks that her girl is still ‘Little’ despite that she grows up to become a young lady. The word ‘them’ refers to the society, The society that changes people unexpectedly. Knowing that piece of information she wouldn’t want the young damsel to change into a swallow. Scientifically, any bird is made to leave the nest after fully grown, in the same manner, she fears that her young toddler will move on to become independent, leaving her alone. “…And never fly again to my straw bed…” The swallow is a migrant bird, flying from one country to another by the changes of seasons.
According to the Woman, she doesn’t see a safe external environment for her daughter, all her wish is to keep the daughter concealed from the vicious world. The straw bed points out the simplicity of life she looks forward to with the child, it also proves that the mother needs nothing but only the youngster by her side. ‘Where I could not comb her hair’ pictures love of a Matriarch to the future generation.
As known in philosophy, a mother’s love is ahead of every other type of love, similarly here too the poetess brings unconditional love of every mother living. This deliberate stanza sees it’s end with the repetition of the first foremost lines, once again demanding the society not to infuse the offspring towards corrupt behaviour.
Looking at this kind of entrance to the poem brushes an emotional plus creates an impact on the minds of the seeker. Therefore, I myself tend to see it as a very successful poem, even though not well known in the scene, it is a very captivating poem due to this reason.
Gabriela starts the second phrase with making the junior a princess. “I don’t want them to make my little girl a princess” . The use of the word ‘Princess’ depicts wealth that follows with status or clan. With the change of status, responsibilities as well as priorities differs. She thinks if her daughter in turn becomes a little princess, the possibility of seeing her near would simply fade away without trace. Because princesses are often let to sleep in the maid’s care and by the hierarchy of prioritizing, the mother’s and daughter’s relationships fall apart, which makes them distant human beings. Hence the She fears for the departure of the juvenile.
Stay hidden
“In tiny Golden Slippers, how could she play on the meadow?”. Once again the impressive talent of the writer of pointing out certain elements with symbols can be expressed here. ‘Golden’ refreshes our memory about wealth and designation, while ‘Play on the meadow’ delves into the depth of freedom.
A princess is required to stay hidden in the castle, where she wears layer after layer, nevertheless her life seems to be in a certain time table arranged by the higher officials of the King. It’s normal for any small minor to feel captured living in that way.
‘Meadow’ is a simple grassland, where ordinary children play running around happily, but unfortunately the young princess won’t be allowed to play. The writer almost curtains the stanza by “And when night came, no longer. Would she sleep at my side”, again a matriarch’s unparalleled grief of losing her absentmindedly.
Usually, the relationship between the mother queen and a princess is confined to the dinner hall. Which makes the mother ponder on thinking that the life as a princess isn’t actually worth it as much as living together happily with no social class. So, she again uses repetition to show the pain of doubt she is hiding within.
Mother’s guidance
The poem’s ending signifies a higher value of the princess, re-linking the prior stanza to it. “And even less do I want them, one day to make her queen”. The Queen is a higher position when compared to a princess, normally it’s fit for a person to be happy when being incarnated as a Queen. However, the mother doesn’t seem to be interested in the idea as much as those. She hallucinates of the minor being put on a throne, where a chance of getting to see her is mere.
“They would put her on a throne, where I could not go to see her”. The ‘Throne’ brings a gush of power in the background, as mentioned earlier, with ultimate power comes great responsibility that designates the queen.
Maybe we wouldn’t see, but a queen struggles too just as a king does, therefore burying the family relations under the ground. For this reason, Mom braces to the fact of not getting to see or meet her again.
“And I could never rock her…” it surrounds a verge of pain that leads to speculations. The mother finds it difficult for her child to feel incredibly safe as she makes the child feel. As the earth needs the moon, it’s always a must for a child to have a mother’s guidance.
Similar to the previous two stanzas the poetess signs off with a repetition, agreeing to the agony of the overthinking mother.
In conclusion, this poem is a masterpiece. It should receive a prize. Mistral has tried her best to explore a side, which is personal and very much sensitive in the literature world. Fear comes in many ways, but this may be the only fear for most mothers living in the world today, Lucila provides a greater understanding to the reader through this poem.
Using metaphors of a swallow, a princess and a queen, from the smooth introduction to the painful end, this poem describes deprivation of the Mother losing her daughter to an external world.
The words ‘My little girl’, ‘Throne’, ‘rock her’ etc are perfect symbolism that coincides with the theme of the poem.
Nevertheless the poetess brings in the fact that no matter what the child is, will she be rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, short or tall, the mother would embrace her.
The “mother only needs her child concept” is portrayed with these examples. Being a feminist, Gabriela has only used the special connection between a daughter and mother to this poem, but it can as well apply to a son too.
As the saying goes “When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” This piece of Gabriela Mistral opens up a lot to the world, about how a mother cares for her juvenile, by not wanting to transfer her into a swallow.
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Fear by Gabriela Mistral
I don’t want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
She would fly far away into the sky
and never fly again to my straw bed,
or she would nest in the eaves
where I could not comb her hair.
I don’t want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
I don’t want them to make
My little girl a princess.
In tiny golden slippers
How could she play on the meadow?
And when night came, no longer
Would she sleep at my side?
I don’t want them to make
My little girl a princess.
And even less do I want them
one day to make her queen.
They would put her on a throne
where I could not go to see her.
And when night time came
I could never rock her …
I don’t want them to make
My little girl a queen!