Information and Questions on Meditación en el umbral

 

For an overview of the major issues in Castellanos’ poetry, read Julian Palley’s introduction to Meditación en el umbral (if you can’t get hold of this, ask me). Don’t be worried if you don’t understand all the points he is making, as some of it is difficult.

 

When reading the poems, you might like, initially, to skip some of the longer ones at the beginning, and come back to them later when you have a sense of what her major themes and concerns are.

 

Think about the following points:

 

·        From what viewpoint does Castellanos retell (masculine) mythology, whether that of Ancient Greece or that of Christianity, or that of the indigenous peoples of Mexico? (See for example, ‘Lamentación de Dido’, ‘Testamento de Hécuba’, ‘Malinche’, ‘Se habla de Gabriel’, ‘Nazareth’.)

·        To what extent could the following poems be said to be about the difficulty for women to find a role in a male-dominated world: ‘Meditación en el umbral’, ‘Destino (1)’, ‘Monólogo de la extranjera’, ‘Recordatorio’, ‘Autorretrato’, ‘Economía doméstica’, ‘Valium 10’, ‘De mutilaciones’, ‘Kinsey Report’? Can you find other poems with a similar theme?

·        Considering her use of dramatic monologue, when she uses the ‘yo’ form, why would it be a mistake to read the poems as purely autobiographical (even ‘Autorretrato’)? To what extent is the ‘yo’ a poetic persona?

·        Can you pick out poems which seem to be most obviously about the act of writing itself? Does she take a different attitude to this at different stages of her poetry?

·        How do you interpret the images of the (mutilated) body in ‘Presencia’, ‘Pequeña crónica’, ‘Entrevista de prensa’, ‘De mutilaciones’, and ‘Advertencia al que llega’?

 

 

Some questions on Castellanos. Please also look at other Tripos questions:

 

1. ‘‘The principal theme of Rosario Castellanos’ poetry is the conflict between the drives, needs and desires of the (female) body, and the codes, doctrines and strictures of (masculine) society and tradition.’’ Discuss.

 

2.                                 “Hubo un intermediario entre mi cuerpo y yo,

                                    un intérprete, Adán, que me dio el nombre

                                    de mujer, que hoy ostento”

 

In the light of this quotation, discuss the relationship between TWO OR MORE of the following in the poetry of Rosario Castellanos: (i) the female body; (ii) feminine identity; (iii) language; (iv) men.

 

3. “It is a mistake to read the poetry of Rosario Castellanos entirely in terms of her womanhood.” Discuss.

 

4. Discuss Castellanos’ treatment of TWO OR MORE of the following in Meditación en el umbral, and say to what extent you think they are interrelated:

                                    i)   Christian mythology;                    ii)  Patriarchy;

                                    iii)  Poetry;                                          iv) Sexual ‘relations’;

                                    v)   ‘Race’.

 

5. Write a critical commentary on the following poem, relating it to the rest of Castellanos’ work:

 

                             AL PIE DE LA LETRA

 

                             Desde hace años, lectura,

                             tu lento arado se hunde en mis entrañas,

                             remueve la escondida fertilidad, penetra

                             hasta donde lo oscuro — esto es lo oscuro: roca —

                             rechaza los metales con un chispazo lívido.

 

                             Plantel de la palabra me volviste.

                             No sabe la semilla de qué mano ha caído.

                             Allá donde se pudre

                             nada recuerda y no presiente nada.

 

                             La humedad germinal se escribe, sin embargo,

                             en la celeste página de las constelaciones.

                             Pero el que nace ignora, pues nacer es difícil

                             y no es ciencia, es dolor, la vida a los vivientes.

 

                             Lo que soñó la tierra

                             es visible en el árbol.

                             La armazón bien trabada del tronco, la hermosura

                             sostenida en la rama

                             y el rumor del espíritu en libertad: la hoja.

 

                             He aquí la obra, el libro.

 

                             Duerma mi día último a su sombra.

                                                                                                Al pie de la letra (1959)