Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Natasha Trethewey's "Photograph of a Bawd Drinking Raleigh Rye," the poet engages the reader in an intricate exploration of gaze, objectification, and the recurrence of desire. The poem discusses a photograph taken by E.J. Bellocq circa 1912, capturing a woman in the midst of a seemingly mundane action: raising a glass. Yet, the image-and the poem itself-becomes a complex tableau that scrutinizes the subject and the viewer, revealing how they are interlocked in a cycle of voyeurism and yearning.

The poem immediately foregrounds the act of looking, underscoring how the woman's glass is "caught in the blur of motion," as if acknowledging the viewer's presence. She raises her glass, perhaps "toasting the viewer you become," indicating an awareness of being observed. This moment becomes an invitation to navigate her visage, commencing a journey that starts "at her feet" and travels "the length of her calves and thighs." The poem delineates her features meticulously, from her "fringed scarf" to her "Gibson-girl hair," creating a tension between the viewer's potentially lascivious gaze and her individual attributes.

The setting around the woman is equally absorbing; a table filled with "trinkets," including a clock, feather-backed rocking chairs, and an ebony statuette. Intriguingly, each item contains a feminine element-the clock hands are "locked at high noon," the bottle of rye resembles "a woman's slender torso and round hips," and the wall behind her is adorned with images of women. This proliferation of feminine symbols posits that the woman is not just an object of desire but also an emblem in a continuum of femininity, in the arts and in reality.

But what anchors this intricate tapestry of gazes and objectification is the detail of the thumbprint, "perhaps yours?" The thumbprint, ostensibly belonging to the viewer, serves as a poignant metaphor for possession and also culpability. By imprinting oneself on the photograph, the viewer is not just an observer but a participant in the process of objectification, mirroring the societal norms that perpetuate such gaze. This thumbprint could also signify the transient nature of desire, a fleeting contact that leaves its mark yet never fully possesses its object.

As the title suggests, this is more than a photograph; it's a medium that invites introspection on part of the viewer. In this way, the poem engages in a metanarrative about the nature of art itself-how it invites, incites, and implicates. It questions the morality of the gaze and challenges the viewer to ponder their role in perpetuating a cycle of objectification.

Through its nuanced layering of perspectives and objectifications, Trethewey's poem explores the timeless theme of desire, its recurrence and its potential pitfalls. It posits that the photograph, like the poem, is a mechanism that arrests a moment in time, making it eternally present and endlessly replicated in the minds of those who engage with it. This is not merely a static representation but a dynamic interplay between the subject and the viewer, each contributing to a cycle that is at once generative and problematic.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...