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I Was My Own Route by Julia de Burgos: Summary & Analysis | Questions and Answers | Class 12 English
I Was My Own Route by Julia de Burgos
Table of Contents
SUMMARY
I Was My Own Route by Julia de Burgos
The poem "I was My Own Route" is a poem about gender discrimination that was composed by Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos. This poem presents the agenda of gender discrimination as a response to the social inequality that exists in contemporary times.
This poem depicts the miserable conditions of women during contemporary times due to social inequality between men and women. It has presented the concept of how women are burdened with patriarchal ideologies from the past. Here in this poem, we find the poet Julia de Burgos making urges to all the women to detach themselves from the past and patriarchal ideologies to locate their identity within.
Here, the main speaker of the poem is a female who seems quite miserable due to the social inequality of the so-called patriarchal ideology. There are altogether six different stanzas here in this poem where we find the strong resolution of the speaker to move forward in search of her identity against male domination.
In the first stanza, we find the speaker's past identity under men and her strong resolution to move forward towards her new paths, leaving the domination of males.
Next, in the second stanza, she talks about her hindrances on her new paths as patriarchal norms and values. She feels broken due to these ideologies, which she refers to as the desperate flapping wings of the old guard, i.e., traditionalists.
In the third stanza, she talks about her new paths, which are quite separated from patriarchal ideology. On her new route, she finds it easy to move on with intense happiness and a feeling of intimate liberation. She believes that the feeling of intimate liberation flows along with her to make a balance between her life and the truth of the route that she has chosen.
In the fourth stanza, the speaker feels like a flower that can grow in any soil on this earth. She feels this now, in the present, on her new path. Her happiness is extreme because she blooms just like a flower anywhere without men's history, future, or boundaries.
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In the fifth stanza, the speaker realises all within herself, just as life within herself, after choosing her new paths.
In the sixth stanza, she makes comparisons between her past and present. She seems quite strong in the present and doesn't want to follow male ideology at any cost. Her protest against the old guard brings her a lot of respect.
EXPLANATION OF THE POEM
I Was My Own Route by Julia de Burgos
STANZA FIRST
I wanted to be like men wanted me to be:
an attempt at life;
a game of hide and seek with my being.
But I was made of nows,
and my feet level on the promissory earth
would not accept walking backwards
and went forward, forward,
mocking the ashes to reach the kiss
of new paths.
Here in this first stanza, we find the speaker's strong resolution regarding her steps as a female in a patriarchal society. According to her, she remained like a puppet for men and acted according to patriarchal norms and values. Her roles in her life were ignored. Her gender was very carelessly accepted in a patriarchal society. Her identity was just played as a game. Under patriarchal ideology, she was playing a game of hide and seek with her being. She was quite unknown about her being. But now she rejects patriarchal norms and values. Her resolution seems quite firm. She knows about her route and wants to move her feet firmly forward on new routes, with a promise not to walk backwards. She doesn't want to indulge herself in her past game. She wants to move ahead, mocking past patriarchal ideology. Here, we find her seeking liberty, change, and new paths with strong resolution.
STANZA SECOND
At each advancing step on my route forward
my back was ripped by the desperate flapping wings of the old guard.
In the second stanza, the speaker states that her forward-advancing new route still has obstacles regarding traditional patriarchal norms and values. For her, the desperate flapping wings (patriarchal norms and values) of the old guard (traditionalists) are still obstacles on her way ahead. Due to all these, she feels broken. These obstacles of the old guard are still with her on the new paths that have ripped her back. The path that she has chosen right now even has obstacles from patriarchal norms and values.
STANZA THIRD
But the branch was unpinned forever,
and at each new whiplash my look
separated more and more and more from the distant
familiar horizons;
and my face took the expansion that came from within,
the defined expression that hinted at a feeling
of intimate liberation;
a feeling that surged
from the balance between my life
and the truth of the kiss of the new paths
In the third stanza, the speaker talks about the detached branch (route), which is separated from her old branch (life under patriarchal values). Her new path is very different from her old path (the patriarchal branch). Her new path is easier to move on than her previous path of male dominance. This new path, which she has chosen, is more delightful. Her face seems joyful, and she expresses the feeling of intimate freedom. This feeling of intimate freedom on this new path flows by balancing her life with the present truth of the new path on which she has moved forward, leaving male dominance.
STANZA FOURTH
Already my course now set in the present,
I felt myself a blossom of all the soils of the earth,
of the soils without history,
of the soils without a future,
of the soil always soil without edges
of all the men and all the epochs.
The fourth stanza reflects the speaker's happiness. She expresses her happiness for her intimate freedom in her new course, which is set in the present and far away from the obstacles of patriarchal norms and values. Here, she feels herself a blossom of all the soils of the earth. A new blossom of earthly soil that can bloom anywhere on earth in a liberal way According to her, this new route has no connection with patriarchal ideology. She wants to bloom with her efforts without the support of men and their patriarchal history. She wants to move on her new route just like a blossom, where there is no connection between patriarchal history, the future, and boundaries. Her route is a fine free route of her own.
STANZA FIFTH
And I was all in me as was life in me......
The fifth stanza reflects the speaker's strength as well as her self-realisation of her being and her own identity. This route, which she has chosen, makes her realise her own identity. She feels herself on a route of her own, where she finds the actuality of her life within her. Apart from patriarchal ideology, she feels the reality of her existence and identity. She realises all within herself and a life of her own.
STANZA SIXTH
I wanted to be like men wanted me to be:
an attempt at life;
a game of hide and seek with my being.
But I was made of nows;
when the heralds announced me
at the regal parade of the old guard,
the desire to follow men warped in me,
and the homage was left waiting for me... . . . .
The sixth stanza begins with the same lines as the first stanza. These lines show the speaker's past life under patriarchal ideology, where she lived her life according to men. There was a question mark in her existence. Her self-being was a game of hide and seek. But the speaker in the present, with her resolution, seems quite strong. She wants to combat the patriarchal ideology. She doesn't want to follow the old guard (traditionalists). She protests male domination. When the messengers announce her at the royal's parade of the old guard, her desire to follow men warps within her. For this great deed, high respect was waiting for her. She wants to move ahead because she has her own route.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS OF I WAS MY OWN ROUTE BY JULIA DE BURGOS
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