MEDITATION ON RED

MEDITATIONONREDBy Olive SeniorABOUT THE AUTHOR Olive Senior was born and brought up in Jamaica and educated in Jamaica and Canada. She is a graduate of Montego Bay High School and Carleton University, Ottawa.

She started her career as a journalist with the Daily Gleaner and later entered the world of publishing. She was editor of two of the Caribbean's leading journals - Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies and Jamaica Journal, published by Institute of Jamaica Publications of which she was also Managing Director. She left Jamaica in 1989, spent some years in Europe and since 1993 has been based in Toronto.

SUMMARY OF THE POEMMeditation on Red displays features of meditative rhyme and speech which offers a compassionate sense of feel for the Dominican born female novelist Jean Rhys who suffered discrimination and racism in England as a result of her cultural background. Senior manages to capture the subjects shifting moods of sadness, disappointment, depression and escape into alcoholism. With a sense of comedy, admiration and gentle awe the poet contemplates the literary and personal ironies of such an exotic tropical beauty now lying beneath the drizzly skies of Englands fertile West Country.

RED VS YELLOWThis poem differs significantly from another poem in the collection, with which it shares part of a title: Meditation on Yellow. The two poems differ thematically, have a markedly different scope of experience (one is more universal, while the other is more personal) and differ structurally in some ways. However, the similarity of their titles begs us to explore these two poems together. RED VS YELLOWBy studying these two poems together we gain different experiences of people in different times. They speak about different struggles that had to be endured by persons of similar character strength. The struggles in each poem, are similar but they also differ in many aspects and in Meditation on Red Senior clearly states that her experience was somewhat different to Rhys. But the essential point to be drawn from these poems is that struggles pay off, eventually. The thinking or meditation makes what we are going through seem not as bad in comparison to what others went through because times change and so do peoples way of thinking. Our paths have thus been paved by our predesessors. The colours may also be significant in that they are what allows the persons to keep on struggling. The yellow may represent the quest for freedom and the red may represent the passion within that made Rhys unable to give up.

STRUCTURE OF POEM The structure of Meditation on Red is an Ode. This is such as it is form of praise and admiration Jean Rhys. Elegy, which, in literature, is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead. Monologue- no specific stanzaic structure; mirrors the thoughts and reflections of Senior. STRUCTURE OF POEM Red is a symbol of hope, life, passion, freedom, femininity, Identity (Caribbean, creole), happiness, energy, vibrance, positivity

Significance of the Title Senior reflects on Red as a combative agent against grey. It is representative of England, which is a source of alienation, sadness, discrimination and displacement for Rhys. She was mocked in England because of her accent. (alienation and discrimination comes in here)

STRUCTURE OF POEMNarrative Perspective: Part 1 -Second person narrative voice Almost like a resurrection of Jhean Rhys. Jhean Rhys comes alive to be apart of the storyline. She gives life to the dead Jhean Rhys. Gives an idea of meditation and reflection.Part 2 First person we realize that Rhys is dead when the other person is introduced. Sense of admiration for Rhys

Techniques Intertextuality, Orality, Nautical motif, pun, irony, contrast, gardening motif, repetition, photograph motif, metaphor, simile, use of epigraph

ANALYSIS OF THE POEMStanza 1- The landing of Jean Rhys from Dominica to England. This impact of impact history in the colonies Land Locked- She was tucked at her England address. Caribbean Islands Surrounded by water and England by land- draws parallel of both places Stanza 2 - Destiny stormed tossed this describes the challenges and the alienation she will face when she gets to England Stanza 3 Land Boat Bungalows is where she will reside. :The fear of being left high and dry- literal lack of floods, her time of lonliness, emptiness and no companionship ANALYSIS OF THE POEMStanza 4- There is a mood shift. Shifting of moods of sadness, disappointment, depression and eventual escape in colonialism Stanza 5- Her discomfort with the weather is highlighted , it is very cold - One meets dark figures- sinister people. Stanza 6- Her desire to leave, she wants to escape this place that she thought would give her opportunity, even though it was prophesied that she would be great. I see.. - Rudderless- she lacks direction, also she wanted to ANALYSIS OF THE POEMStanza 7- Marooned in the grey- this line symbolised she being trapped in sadness, gloom, alienation Garden- Motif Stanza 8 - Getting to the root of the problem, she is being discriminated against, Which She would garden to cope with the sadness This also shows how the black people felt over the years when they moved to these countries ANALYSIS OF THE POEMStanza 9- she failed at gardening- not one came up, this emphasized her failure. The use ellipse () shows the procressing of time and that the poet was planting other things Stanza 10-She is fraustrated Stanza 11- the use of a red dress in your closet- Intertextuality. They were awaiting Jean to breakdown mentality and mentality simalir to how her character of Anionette broke down in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea ANALYSIS OF POEM Stanza 13 - Frayed emotionally like the woman in the attic.. like the coat she is wearingTHEMES WITHIN THE POEMWomen, Impact of HistoryDisplacementColonialismAlienation/Discrimination