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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
"Degas's Laundresses" by Eavan Boland is a rich and vivid portrayal of the laundresses depicted in the works of French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas. Boland brings to life the physical labor and the inner lives of these women, using the act of laundering as a metaphor for artistic creation and the complex dynamics between the observer and the observed. The poem begins with an evocative image of the laundresses as "roll-sleeved Aphrodites," goddesses of love rising from the sea, yet here they emerge from "a camisole brine" of soapy water. This juxtaposition of the mythic with the mundane elevates the women's work, suggesting a divine aspect to their daily toil. The laundresses' actions are described in terms that evoke the art of sewing and the sea – "silking the fitted sheets / away from you like waves." They are seamstresses of dreams, infusing their labor with the echoes of open fields, bridging their confined space with the expansiveness of nature. As they work, the women's conversations turn to topics of leisure and celebration – "brides, wedding outfits," contrasting with the sweat that embeds itself into the fabric they handle. Yet, their labor is interrupted by the presence of a man, the artist, who enters the scene with a voyeuristic gaze: "There behind you. / A man. There behind you." Boland repeats the caution, "Whatever you do don’t turn," creating a sense of tension and anticipation. The repetition implies a potential loss of power or autonomy if the laundresses acknowledge the man's gaze, suggesting the vulnerability of being watched and possibly objectified. Degas is portrayed as taking "his ease," leisurely preparing his materials, "staking his easel so," an artist capturing the scene at his own pace, contrasting with the laundresses' relentless work. His smile, slow and deliberate, reveals a contemplative state, as if unwrapping his own thoughts while observing the women. Boland ends the poem with the chilling revelation that the artist's mind, with its "twists," "white turns," and "blind designs," is likened to a "winding sheet" – a shroud for the dead. This metaphor suggests that the artist's creative process involves an entangling and perhaps consuming of his subjects, reducing their complex lives to a singular image or impression. "Degas's Laundresses" is a poem that delves into the layered realities of women's work and the act of artistic representation. Boland's language is painterly, capturing the laundresses' physical grace and the intensity of their hidden thoughts, while also critiquing the power dynamics inherent in the act of observation. The poem speaks to the broader themes of representation, gender, and the sacrifices woven into the fabric of both art and life.
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