My Reading Response to Amazing Grace
Jacqueline Stephens

My Reading Response to Amazing Grace The poem I have chosen to respond to is Amazing Grace by John Newton. Giving birth to a child creates a strong bond between a mother and daughter, the emotional bond created between my granddaughter and myself is due to the fact, I had custody of her for the first two and half years of her life and I sang Amazing Grace to her every night before bedtime. She weighted a pound and six ounces when she was born, by the Grace of God she is a thriving six year old. This gives reason for her name, Nevaeh Lee, her first name backwards with her middle name, Heaven Lee. This poem touches my heart on a level no song has ever done. It was a way we spent our special time together. I can feel her little body lying on my chest with her hand clutching my shirt collar. This is the “Intensity of Emotion” (Section 13.4) I feel when I think of those times and wish by some miracle I could experience them again. I can hear her mom calling me on the phone when she had visitation at her at bedtime, asking me, “What does Nevaeh want”. I asked her what is she saying, she replied “mazing”, my heart broke. I told her she needed to be sung Amazing Grace to go to sleep. I feel the tears now. I started singing this to her when she was six months old. That is when she was able to come home from the hospital. I think I sang this to her until she was three and there are times when she wants me to hold her a sing it to her, just to have me hold her like when she was little. Then there are the times we talk about it before she goes to bed now and she sings it to me. I think this is the “Dramatic Irony” (Section 13.4) I feel when my daughter tries to figure out the bond Nevaeh and I have, that has never changed. Even when I gave custody back to her, I was always Nevaeh’s rock. Nevaeh had a rough start in life, she weighted a pound and six ounces, and I had custody of her when she was born due to my daughter’s age. A week after she was born I went to Florida and they called to let me know they were going to have to do surgery or put a shunt in her intestines. She had an infection because she could not go to the bathroom and it was killing her. I needed to know all the options to make sure she lived and had the easiest time recovering. I have “Flashbacks” (Section 13.4) of the phone call I received in my dreams and the outcome is always different. Waking up and going to her room to make sure she is still there is a nightmare I have while awake. What I have tried to express in this paper is to show you that even though you give birth to a child, it does not always create a bond. I am now going through getting custody of her again, she will always be my daughter in my heart not my granddaughter. I will do everything I have to do to help her mother (my daughter) as well as making sure she has the best of everything God has wanted her to have in her life. God has always been an important part of my life but until Nevaeh was born, I never knew what I was missing in my life and how one little baby changed my life and saved my lost soul. “How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!” (Section 9.3) truly believed.

References:
Ashford Writing Center 3.3THESIS GENERATOR, retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUWC.12.4/sections/sec3.3#
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. Section 13.4 & Section 9.3 San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ash