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Argument Paper: At a Certain Age

Deborah Cummins's poem At A Certain Age is from a man's perspective who expresses

his dissatisfaction with his life. The short poem describes how couples should maintain

relationships. There must be a willingness to make sacrifices to make the significant other happy

in relationships or marriages, whether it makes them feel the same or not.

PART 1

Deborah Cummins is a renowned middle-aged woman who has accomplished much over

the years. She was born and also grew up in Chicago. She is an award-winning author known for

her poem and essay collections, Counting the Waves and Beyond the Reach and Here and Away:

Discovering Home on an Island in Maine, respectively (Cummins n.p). Her works are

recognized widely across anthologies, journals, magazines as well as newspapers. Her writing

skills are exceptional and have enabled her to teach in different institutions (“THE CHICAGO

POETRY CENTRE” n.p). Over the years, Cummins has used her skills to influence students'

lives from middle school to high school and even higher institutions. She has taught writing at

Columbia College, University of Chicago, Newberry Library of Chicago, the Center for Talent

Development at Northwestern University as well as Terra Museum of American Art. Besides,

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she has been a time-to-time visiting writer at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago,

University of Nebraska, and Lyon College (Cummins n.p).

She has also worked in elementary and high school as a residency artist in the arts-in-

education for Illinois Arts Council and Menil Art Collection throughout the years. She was also a

writing instructor in several public schools around Chicago and the Writers in schools around

Houston. For about three years, Cummins acted as the assistant director of a workshop (White

River Writers) at Lyon College. In the Down East Writers conference in Deer Isle, Cummins was

a faculty member ("Writing — Deborah Cummins" n.p).  For quite a several years, she was a

curator of poetry events for the Opera House Arts at Stonington, Maine. Presently, Cummins

fills in as a board leader in Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

PART 2

The poem At A Certain Age by Deborah Cummins is a short description of a couple. The

couple talks about a lovely home they recently purchased and coupons from the store the

husband is in the hold of (Cummins 1). The main aim of the poem is to show readers ways of

maintaining a relationship. It shows them that they will have to sacrifice something to maintain a

happy relationship sometime in their lives. A man has the responsibility of handling outside

activities while a woman is assigned the kitchen chores. This is how society sees it. However, in

this day and age, relationships are all about helping each other. A man can cook for his loved

one, and a woman can do any outside-related activity comfortably. In this case, it is okay for a

woman to drive her man (Cummins 1).

The pair seem to be past the age of doing fun things together, such as fishing or any other

outdoor activity. Cummins states, "the man sits beside his wife as she takes the wheel"
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(Cummins 1). The narrator places a man in the passenger seat while the wife drives to observe

their behavior. She wants to see how he feels about it. With the age issue still hanging over the

couple's heads, is he comfortable with his wife being in the drivers' seat? (Cummins 1)

Generally, most men feel threatened by the idea of being driven around by a woman that they

would even insist on driving even if the car belongs to the woman. This might imply that the

man is not proactively living his life; it is more of a waiting game. He feels challenged by the

restrictions that challenge him from keeping purpose and happiness at his old age. Even though

he loves his wife, he thinks they are sacrificing more than they should keep their love. However,

the peace that comes with it is what matters to him most. This encourages the readers not to

"stop" living their lives prematurely, and their life's purpose can be "saved." It connects to the

store where the couple shopped, "Stop and Save"(Cummins 1).

In the poem, the man is trying to adjust to life and being happy. Cummins says, "There is

no place he must be, no clock to punch" (Cummins 1). This implies that the man has no work to

keep him busy anymore. He has just retired from work, and he has to adjust to the lifestyle and

change in status. There are no familiar routines or structures that he was used to before retiring.

He has to adjust to being with his wife and do things that make her happy even when they make

him happy. He is not satisfied that he has followed his wife around at the store. "Sure, there is

bass in the lake, a balsa model- in the garage, the par-three back nine. But it's not the same"

(Cummins 1). Even though he has other outside activities, he has to sacrifice them to make his

wife happy as she is aware that her husband is free now that he is retired. Here, Cummins shows

readers that it is okay to put other people's feelings first.

Life after retirement is still a struggle for him. In the poem, the man is lost in his

thoughts as he wonders how women do it, how the wife is quickly adapting to the new life and
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can comfortably cook and move around the kitchen. Cummins writes, "he stares into their

neighbor's fence, but he does not see it, he is listening to his wife in the kitchen, he is amazed

more than ever—how women seem to know what to do"(Cummins 2). On his end, he is

probably thinking of how to handle things that they never learned to accommodate about each

other when he was working. Now that they will be spending more time with each other, he feels

that he has to do what he should have done long ago to make her happy and maintain peace

henceforth. The only option the man has is to develop habits that will accommodate his wife’s

feelings since they will be spending more time together.

Conclusion

Indeed, to maintain relationships or marriage, sacrifices have to be made. This is well

portrayed in Cummins’s poem At A Certain Age. The first part of this paper focuses on Deborah

Cummins's bio, especially her life as a teacher. It mentions all the institutions she has taught

writing over the years. The second part focuses on analyzing her poem in detail. At A Certain

Age can be analyzed and viewed in different concepts. It depends on how a reader understands

it. In this case, the poem analysis is in terms of a relationship being all about sacrifices. People

in a relationship or marriage make sacrifices to make each other happy. Sometimes, one must do

something that makes them uncomfortable or does not make them happy to make the other

person happy. The poem is about a man who sacrifices some things he would do to make his

wife happy. He goes to the store with her and makes an effort to adjust to the new life. There are

challenges, but he seems to want to overcome them to be happy and lead a peaceful life. Healthy

sacrifices in relationships encourage growth; a couple makes progress in life endeavors.

Works cited
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Cummins, Deborah. "At a Certain Age." Poetry Foundation. N.p., 2007. Retrieved April

20,2021,from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49930/at-a-certain-age

Cummins, Deborah." Find Maine Writers. N.p., n.d. Retrieved from

http://find.mainewriters.org/writers/deborah_cummins/

THE CHICAGO POETRY CENTRE. "Cummins, Deborah 2002." Reading Archives. N.p.,

20 June 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from

https://archive.poetrycenter.org/category/c/page/2/

"Writing — Deborah Cummins." Deborah Cummins. N.p., n.d. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from

https://www.deborahcummins.com/writing