English 201
In the poem My Ex-Husband By Gabriel Spera readers are taken through the internal struggle of loving a man who betrays you and knowing when to move forward from the relationship. The woman's , or Ex-Wife's , tone in the beginning stanzas have an almost light feel to them giving the reader a touch of positivity about a marriage gone wrong. She talks of the frame and how it is "Kind of a shame To waste it on him, but what could I do? (Since I haven't got a photograph of you.)" and that is when we are aware that she is speaking to a new lover or close acquaintance. The line where she chooses to say 'kind of a shame' reveals that while it is in her best interest that she is divorced from him there is a small internal struggle that continues to recognize what she loved about him.
The following stanzas talk about her ex-husband's features and what intially drew her in. "What with his ruddy cheeks, the neat mustache, Those close-set, piercing eyes, that titled grin.". From the outside her ex appears to be a perfect gentleman, she comments next in the poem on how he can compliment her perfectly, more specifically he can compliment any woman perfectly and that is when the final tone of the poem sets in. While the ex-wife loved her husbands charm and affection she did not love him being with other women and that is when her struggle of loving or hating him is deciphered.
The tone of the poem changes to that of a woman jaded and betrayed. When she talks of her ex-husband's charm and finishes with , "Could flush the throat of any woman, not
Just mine." the reader is now fully aware of his unfaithfulness and the main reason she left. The tone remains the same throughout the rest of the poem as she goes on to insult his character, "He had an attitude-how should I put it-smooth, self-satisfied, too good For the rest of the world, too easily
Impressed with his officious self", which correlates with a woman in love who has been jaded.
The end of the poem has a differnt tone that is almost a light indifference to her ex or possible a mockery, when she mentions that champagne flutes, which is an indicator that she has moved on and is content with the her new life and what she gained from her previous one. the paradox that was the woman's struggle between love and hate was resolved through her moving on and growing indifferent to any feelings for her ex-husband.
I also did my analysis on "My Ex-Husband and we've got the similar ideas. Except on the last part of your analysis, you had mentioned that she mentions the champagne flutes as some sort of mockery showing us that she has moved on. In my opinion I think that she isn't over him because of out no where she stops talking about him and asks her date what car would they use and what restuarant to go. Sort of giving a sense of pushing it to the side because she wants to move on.
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