Possible Siblings

Hum 102
Galen College of Nursing
Omar Rodriguez, MA

Possible Siblings A reader can interpret May Swenson's poem, "All That Time", in different ways. May Swenson's poem is a Septet, which consists of a 7 line stanza. When read this poem gives the impression that it is about two lovers who over time withstand changes that one partner goes through, and the other remains standing strong throughout time. This poem clearly provides an image of two siblings and is very specific in describing the relationship between the two. Although the poem does seem to take on a romantic form, some readers believe that this may be a poem about a brother and a sister. The narrator of the poem is the author, and she starts with line one, she states "I saw two trees embracing". In this line the reader may be feeling the emotion of a romantic stance. It speaks of an embrace, but doesn't mention what kind of embrace. Maybe it's a family embrace, instead of the romantic embrace that some readers think. In line five, she states, "Since their twin youth, maybe she had been pulling him toward her all that time". This line clearly states that they have been together since their youth, and possibly twins or are in close age of each other. She was pulling him toward her, as if to protect him with her strong stance. Some readers feel that it is highly impossible that two lovers would be together since their twin youth. In line eleven, she states, "And where their tops tangled it looked like he was crying on her shoulder". In this line she shows that the brother was the weaker of the two. In siblings there is always one that stands stronger than the other. The one who holds the family together long after the parents have passed one. The sister was merely showing her protective support against a weaker sibling by offering her shoulder. In line nine, the narrator describes him as the weaker of the two, giving the description of , "He was the thin, dry, insecure one, the most wind-warped, you could see". Again that shows
Possible Siblings that he is the one who has been altered over time, that has left him the weaker one. Lines fourteen through nineteen, it describes how he was crying on her shoulder, and she remained strong, even though his weakness seem to want to pull her down with him. Some readers may feel as though he was trying to make her change, and weaken her in when lines fourteen through line eighteen, "On the other hand, maybe he had been trying to weaken her, break her, or at least make her bend over backwards for him". These lines describe not him trying to change her and force her to bend for him, but it describes how as a sister was willing to do what she had too, to protect him. Line twenty states, "And all the time she was standing up to him the best she could", that clearly shows that she remained the rock in the relationship, and despite the weakness he brought to her by having to lean on her, she remained strong for him. Just as a sibling would protect, and remain strong for the siblings who needed that kind of strength. He seems to be giving up and it was wearing on his body leaving him worn, and he came to her for the support of a loved one. She offered that by standing strong against him. As the narrator states in line twenty-five through twenty-eight, "But he had been willing to change himself - even if it was for the worse - all that time", she is stating that he in a sense seems to be giving in to whatever seems to making him weak, and he comes to her for support. In line twenty-three and twenty-four she states that she was too stubborn to allow him to sink without first giving him the support he so needed from his stronger sister, "She was the most stubborn, the straightest one, that's a fact". The narrator is stating that she wouldn't allow him to crumble and give up, and she was being stubborn in holding him up, even when he couldn't hold himself up.

Possible Siblings In the final stanza, lines twenty-nine through thirty three it clearly states how strong their relationship as siblings are ,"At the top they looked like on tree, where they were embracing. It was plain they'd be always together. Too late now to part". She embraced him while entangling herself around her brother, as if to always protect him from the world, and possibly from himself. The last two lines, line thirty-four and thirty-five states, "When the wind blew, you could hear them rubbing them rubbing on each other". These last two lines shows how strong their connection as brother and sister really was. All that time since young siblings, and all that they had weathered over the years, never broke them down, but left them as strong as one.

References
Swenson, M. (1991). All That Time. In Meyer, M. (Ed.), The compact Bedford introduction to literature, 9th ed, (pp.694-695). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins