I want to focus on the word overturn from the line, "But I love to hear it sung; how the waterlilies fill with rain until they over turn, spilling water into water, then rock back and fill with more". This part of the poem I felt it really described the entire tone of the poem. In the etymology dictionary, over turn means, "to rotate, roll over; to throw over violently, to ruin, to destroy, to reverse." The narrators mom and grandmother has been displaced moving away from their homeland. The boy is in a way imagining this wonderful place that his grandmother and mom loved so much. This is what they knew and loved. I think that when they moved away from their beloved homeland their lives in a sense was overturned. All that they had left was memories which made them cry. I think when the writer talks about rain filling the waterlilies it symbolizes their emotions, that they cried in reminisce of what they once knew. The overturning can also, in my opinion, symbolize that transitions in their lives when they moved and everything began to change. In the definition from etymology dictionary online, part of the definition was to rotate or roll over. As their lives transition it was as if they were rotating and rolling over to a knew chapter in their lives, only to be filled again with the change of rain. It seems as though they find freedom from past pains and loss and they can escape to find joy through their song. They have a sense of pride of the place that they sing about. Though it may bring back some sad memories, they sing to remember and to share with the narrator what they loved and experienced in their homeland. I think that they may also be crying because they miss their son and husband. The narrator in the beginning shares with us that if his father was still alive he would be there playing his accordion along with the ladies singing and reminiscence. So it was clear that his father too loved to sing their song that brought so many memories of the land that they loved, he too loved the land where their from. I do think that waterlily stanza was really important because it sets the tone of the entire poem and it symbolizes, one why they were singing for the narrator and two why they were crying. I really enjoyed this poem and I think it was well written and it conveyed the tone of voice very well.
Citations:
Harper, Douglas. "Etymology." 2001-2010. Web. <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php>.
