Question

Read the poem ‘Sad Women’ by Daria Domitrovic and write a note of appreciation comparing and contrasting it with ’the poem ‘Any Woman’.

Sad Women 

Sad women always get up 

To make breakfast for their children, 

To tell him, “have a nice day” 

And women go to work and always do their best,

They make lunch and always sit last, 

Sad women buy groceries on the way home, 

Make phone calls to hear someone’s voice, 

They are faithful to their promises. 

Sad women take upon other’s grief 

Sad women comfort others and say “everything will be okay”, 

They don’t let their sadness to come out, 

Sad women don’t have time to be sad, 

Sad women cry when lights go out.

Answer 1

Daria Domitrovic’s ‘Sad Women’ gives a beautiful portrayal of sad women who do not show their sadness in the open. They are destined for a hard life. They get up early in the morning to prepare breakfast for their children and to wish their husbands a happy day ahead. They then go to work and do their best. They make lunch but they are the ones who eat last. They make the purchases for home. They make phone calls and keep their promises. They empathise with others in their grief and comfort them. They never show their pain as they have no time to show it. But they cry in the nights when the lights are out and nobody sees them.

The poem ‘Any Woman’ by Katharine Tynan speaks of the importance of the woman in the family. She is the pillars of the house. She is the keystone of the arch. She is the roof and walls. She is the re upon the hearth. The children come to her for love and affection. She holds the family together. She is everywhere in the house – from floor to roof. She protects the children from all dangers. At the end, the woman prays to Jesus to spare her life till the children are grown up.

Both poems are easy to understand. ‘Sad Women’ emphasizes the chores of a woman and how she suffers. But “Any Woman” is happy to do her duties and she does not complain. The imagery in both the poems is very powerful. The tone of “Sad Women” is that of sadness and complaint. But the tone in Any Woman is that of love and sincerity. ‘Any Woman’ is in rhyme and the rhyming scheme is abab except in the first stanza. The rhyming scheme in the other poems is erratic, although we can trace some rhyme in the last stanza of the poem. There the scheme is abbcdc. Between the two poems, I prefer ‘Any Woman’ as it talks of the real feelings of a devoted, non-complaining mother.