Mathews 1

Michael Mathews

Dr. Jennings

English 3060

5 July 2018

When first reading the Margaret Atwood poem, “Death of a Son by Downing”, with no

background information, it is unclear who the speaker is. The poem is personal; it is privy to

many sentiments. The emotion that is evoked while reading the poem seems to suggest the poem

is an autobiographical work of Atwood. The speaker is somber throughout with great attachment

to events in the poem. The poem, in fact, is a biographical work, but of Susanna Moodie an

immigrant woman that brought her family to Canada in the nineteenth century. Moodie was in

search of a new life with great hopes of what this new land would bring. Moodie, the speaker,

lost hope, encountered devastation, tried to escape her reality and eventually came to terms with

it. In “Death of a Young Son by Drowning”, there are many stylistic and metaphorical choices

that deepen the experience of the white immigrant woman in North America. Atwood interprets

the historical figures life, and actively connects the reader to her experiences using extended

symbolism, tone of speaker and specific diction to create a deepened relatable humanistic

connection to the work.

Immigration is often done with the desire of a new life. It can be interpreted that Moodie

immigrated in hopes of a fresh start, but knew that the land would never be hers to call her own:

He, who navigated with success

the dangerous river of his own birth

once more set forth on a voyage of discovery

into the land I floated on

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but could not touch to claim. (lines 1-6)

These lines explain her journey. Moodie knew before she got to Canada that it would never truly

be a land for her, lines five and six illuminate that truth: “into the land I floated on / but could not

touch to claim.” No matter how hard Moodie tried, she would not be comfortable allowing

herself to call this new land hers. She was attached to the ideations she had before arriving, and

her reality differed.

Throughout Atwood’s poem there is extended symbolism of water. Water in many

instances is a renewing and rebirthing force, but as it gives life, it takes it away. Water plays a

huge role in the overall meaning of the poem: “He, who navigated with success / the dangerous

river of his own birth,” (line 1-2). Life is unpredictable, and what people encounter will either

make or break them. The “dangerous river” is the river of life that is constantly flowing and

waiting on no one. The subject of these lines, “he”, who navigates does not give up, and only

continues moving forward, like the river itself. Early on the water is what brought Moodie and

her family to North America: “on a voyage of discovery / into the land I floated on,” (lines 4-5).

The water was a symbol of a new beginning. It gave her a renewed sense of hope during the

voyage that she embarked on.

After understanding the context of the poem, it becomes more clear as to why the speaker

of the poem is somber throughout. Susanna Moodie loses her son after immigrating to Canada

from him drowning. The water is what took her hope and happiness away, “His feet slid on the

bank, / the currents took him” (lines 7-8). Along with the loss of her son, her optimism was lost.

Moodie’s voyage and her son’s death contrast the cyclical ways of life. It seems that she felt

defeated. Losing her son in a foreign land they were supposed to make their home in shatters her

idea of what was supposed to be anew. The use of the phrase, “took him”, in line eight suggest
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her feelings that the new land deliberately killed her son. Moodie in a sense lost part of her

identity, it was “taken” from her. From the context of the poem it seems she invested much of

herself into her child. She did not know how to cope. The specific choice of the word “took” also

suggest that Moodie was trying to place blame. This is suggested through the tone of desperation

and somberness of the poem as well. In this new land, all the speaker had was her family to hold

near to her heart from where she came. What she knew of herself was lost when her son was

“taken”. Her hopes and dreams of a great life were put to rest alongside her son. Her son’s body

was “swamped” (line 18) in that of the foreign land, and he was taken somewhere that was

unfamiliar to him. This parallels that of Moodie’s experience. She journeyed to an unfamiliar

land. The endings of their journeys’ were just different.

Beginnings and endings are constant, like ups and downs, similar to the motion of water.

Moodie’s migration was a beginning, and the death of her son was an ending. The symbolism

continues into the lines that follow:

“he swirled with ice and trees in swollen water

and plunged into distant regions,

his head a bathysphere;

through his eyes’ thin glass bubbles,” (line 9-12).

The aspirations she had were mangled and lost with the unfamiliarity of desperation and

devastation she felt in this new land. Moodie’s son’s head being called as a bathysphere is

another reference to the water. Bathyspheres have holes in them that are covered by glass that the

person traveling in are able to see out of. This is where the reference “through his eyes’ thin

glass bubbles,” in line twelve comes in. Atwood jumps from place to place in the poem, and

often refers to previous parts in the later stanzas. In line thirteen, “he who looked out, reckless
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adventurer / on a landscape stranger than Uranus” refers back to the “he” in line one. The

adventurer travels to new places in reference to Moodie’s immigration. There is constant

repetition of the themes of immigration, death, rebirth and identity.

The theme of identity is reiterated in the lines that follow the quotes above:

There was an accident; the air locked,

he was hung in the river like a heart.

The retrieved the swamped body,

cairn of my plans and future charts, (lines 16-19).

The loss of the speaker’s son is the “accident” that is referred to. The air in his lungs was

“locked”, he couldn’t breathe from being taken over by water. The body was swamped from

being taken over by the body of water. The phrase “cairn of my plans and future charts” in line

nineteen suggests that she mourned not only the loss of her son, but the loss of her plans for her

family. Her son’s death ended much of what she desired for her family. Moodie memorialized

both, her son and her dreams, after the tragedy.

The speaker lightens up in tone towards the end of the poem. The essence of rebirth and

redefined identity is highlighted from line twenty-two to the end of the poem. From migration to

the start of spring,

It was spring, the sun kept shining, the new grass

leapt to solidity;

my hands glistened with details, (lines 22-24).

Spring is often looked at as a time of restoration and new life. Flowers growing, animals making

their presence known again, lots of rain, and the sun shining after winter represents anew. The

twenty-five ends the extended metaphor, “After the long trip I was tired of waves.” The water
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gave hope, but took it away. Her journey continues after she comes to North America. Her

spiritual and emotional connection to the world was tiring. Moodie was ready to be able to settle

in search of the life she was in search of. The “waves” of life are unpredictable, but getting

caught in them was exhausting for her. Waves carry people away when they are too far from

shore, and Moodie feels swept away in the midst of her experience.

The hope that was somewhat restored came to settle towards the end of the poem. The

speaker says, “My foot hit rock. The dream sails collapsed, ragged,” (lines 26-27). The “rock” is

the land, the reality that she has walked into. The “dream sails” were the aspirations Moodie had.

She states the sails “collapsed” and they were “ragged”. When sails collapse, typically it is

because the ship has reached its destination. The word “ragged” suggests there was wear and tear

on the sails throughout the journey. Moodie comes to terms with her reality: “I planted him in

this country / like a flag,” (lines 28-29). She marks her territory here with her son. She must stay

because of him, her connection to him. She “planted” her roots deep. She now has a spiritual,

emotional and physical stake in the land. The flag symbolizes her marking her territory like the

United States did to the moon. It was a nonverbal statement Moodie made signifying her

presence.

The speaker, has great attachment to the details in the poem; it is her life. The extended

symbolism adds depth to the poem throughout in terms of visuals and meaning. There are many

layers to what Atwood is trying to convey throughout the poem about Susanna Moodie’s life.

The poem is addressing her immigration and the loss of her son, but the subtext connects to her

feelings about her situation and reality. The specific diction shows the raw emotion of Moodie as

she tries to cope and find her place in this land. Throughout it is suggested she struggles with her

identity as she feels she has been stripped away of all that she knew about herself, but as the
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poem comes to a close there is a lighter tone that comes to the poem. Moodie becomes at peace

with her circumstances, and attempts to cope. Her struggle to escape the reality of her world

comes to an end as she settles. The “waves” in her life encounter a still period, a period of

solidity.