JohanPaulSuares
JohnEthanJulve
CarlKevinMabala
ENG10,TeacherJeanilleCogtas
Quarter3LiteraryAnalysisPaper
March29,2022
Cursed, a title that many painful things bear, wounds, events, places and even people. They can hurt, the pain may go away but the scars canremain,wemayleavepainfulplacesand people but some days it feels likewe’restillthere,neverhavingleft.JeanilleC.Cogtas’ Cursed, apoemmadein2019tackleshermethodofcopingwithsuch.
Not all of uswerebornwithahappyfamily Somewerebornwithoneparent,somewere born without parents, some have parents but don't receive their warm love. The poem Cursed speaks about the abused, about how they carrythescarsofthepastinorderforthemtomoveon to the future. It's all about how the victimstoughenfromthehelltheyexperiencedanduseditto makethemselvesthewiser.
This sonnet is about that feeling of being, well, cursed, cursed to endure abuse from someone who was meant to give love, cursed to live with memories and failures. Many representations are found here that tackle this topic, and while this poem is about wounds, it’s alsoabouthowtheyheal.
Iambic Pentameter is the meter of the sonnet, has 10 syllables per line and 5iambs.The rhymeisinaShakespeareanrhymescheme(ababcdcdefefgg).
The speaker of the sonnet is a person, a child even, who is beingabusedbytheonewho should be helping him, the one who should beguidinghim.Thespeakerspeakslikeachildwho hasnoonetoshowhimthepathtothelight.
The first 4 lines serve as the sonnet’s exposition, showing the viewer where in time this poem takes place for the author and its main struggle. Line 5 deals with metaphor, a cyclops is tunnel visioned and narrow minded, representing the character’s intimidating abuser. That metaphor is then expanded on line6, and7showingtheviewertheactionsofthis‘Cyclops’.810 still serve as metaphors, though they change into Mythological ones to suit new messages. The sack of Aeolus,anobjectthatwasasubjectofcuriosity,revealedtobeamuchmorevolatile subject and the Mark of Cain, given to Abel by God as a punishment for his sin (though inthis context it could be regarded as punishment for an action unwantedbyauthority).Line11serves as a twist, the character having truly embraced the mark within themselves, and growing from them.Line13and14serveasthecouplet,apoignantendingforthissonnet.
I believe the author argues for resolve, to be resolute in the face of the inevitability of suffering. To understand that we will be brought low, but also remember to rise back up again. They may be a victim of hate, but they will not continue its cycle, they will not fall to the clutches of trauma, notfalltothecausesofwhatmadeitso.Tobecompassionatetothosestillin thesituation,perchancetogivethemsolidarity.
What the author is trying to say with this comment is to reach out to those who are abused, and neglected. It's as if the author based this on his/her own experience. Reading this
poem might give you awareness that there are people out there without a proper family, people out there where the ones who are supposed to be protecting them are nowhurtingtheminstead. This reaches out to those who are abusedtostrengthenthemselvesandtousetheirexperienceto makethemabetterperson.
What is likable about this sonnet is that the words expressed in every line gives new meaning to understand the sonnet itself so the reader will know all the feelings and wisdom in the sonnet. However, this sonnet is a bit confusing, every line truly needs a deep understanding toreallygainthedeepermeaningandstorybehindeverywordandreference.
Thelines1and2seemsthatthesuncreepsfromthedarkness,alwaysstaringfromabove, never satisfied until the doors leading from his room wereclosedlikeaparentvulturingontheir child for any failures or faults. Line 3 painted a picture of the author in sort of a deep sleep because they feared the harsh reality of life. Line 4 there was essentially no consistency across childrenintheabilityofmotherstocommandtheirobedience.
The lines 5,6 and 7 were written as if the author is being seized and attacked by a monster, the exact opposite of what you would expect from a parent. The term "Cyclops'' is a metaphor that refers to the abuser as someone who is narrow-minded or short-sighted. Line 8 refers to Aeolus' sack,whichwasusedtoholdpowerfulandviolentwindsandcanbeinterpreted as a prison for those who do not obey Line 9 and 10 shows the person giving up and doubting themselves in the line set free; or was I Line10referstothemarksthatGodgavetoCainashis punishmentforhiswrongdoings.
Lines 11 and 12 have an anguish, a cry for help andjustificationofwhytheysufferedso much and for so long. That first time you escape a situation and see people who are “Normal”
who seem “Ok” and have no idea what itwasliketobeintheirplace.Butastheyageandgrow, they cry no more because thereisnoanswerwhy,therereallyisnocosmicjustification.Allthey candoislive,growandmoveforwardthroughit.
Our couplets 13 and 14 only hammer home that theme. Aside from the avarice of the added alliterative appeal, the line From tears we toughen is a hard line about growthfrompain, how experience and the cruelties of life can be the greatest teachers, howevenfromthedeepest ruts we find ourselves in, there is still opportunity to become something better; From pits we rise. 14 continues this trend with its realization, a realization of both beauty and ugliness, an acceptanceofitswisdombutalsoofitshistory.
Like the people before us, what we must do after times of crisis, is to ensure thoseevils will be lessened and removed for future generations. When the Londonites had experienced the greatest city fire in history, they may have cried, suffered and felt like givingup,buttheynever did. Through the knowledge they gained about how the flames devoured their livelihoods, they adapted, they learned andgrewwiserfromwhatmanywouldseetobeacurse.TheGreatFireof London, the supposed beast which brought the nascent empire to its knees, had become an illuminating force which had only brought them closer to their prime. The collective trauma of the Londonites gave us the first ever Fire Brigades, the prototype of the firehose and agrowing connectionbetweenthemilitaryandthecivilian.
Related more closely with the sonnet’s narrative, is how parental abuse not only harms their child physically, but also mentally. Our first proper interpersonal relationships come from our parents, and naturally as children (and as human beings as a whole), welearnfromourfirst experiences. When this first relationship issouredhowever,thevictimofthisabusemayfeelthe same lethargy and apathy like the character in the sonnet. The child could have a less mature
grasp on their emotions, and may respond tonormalsituationsinappropriatelyorevenviolently, continuing to alienate them from the crowd of ‘normalcy’ and driving them further and further fromthehelptheyneed.
We weren't all born into a joyful household. Somewerebornwithonlyoneparent,some without parents, and some with parents but were never loved. To move away from the past, the poem Cursed speaks about the abuse.. How the victims grew stronger and wiser from the hell they went through. With memories and failures, this sonnet describes the experience of being cursed.Thispoemisaboutwoundsandhowtheyheal.
This poem is of long lasting trauma from childhood. How the child was essentially bent and twisted under a supposedly ‘loving’ family member’s hand. The many metaphors and allusions give a sense of a hidden and repressed trauma, hiding in blurred memories and fragmented ideas. The author, our victim, shares with us their story, not onlyofwhatphysically happened, but also what psychologically happened. Yet, despite the dark and hopeless tones of the sonnet, with each line it slowly builds up strength and literary courage like the author. This growth and development is a call for the viewer to do the same through every struggle and hardship,tobebeyondyourscars,tostillbeabletogiveloveevenwhenitwasdeniedtoyou.
WorksCited
Cogtas,Jeanille.(2018,December3).“HowtoWriteaCriticalAnalysisofaSonnet”.Retrievedfrom
https://jeanillec.blogspot.com/search?q=Critical+analysis&m=1.Accessed29March2022
“TheGreatFireofLondon”london-firegovuk,LondonFireBrigade,(2022,March24),
https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/history-and-stories/the-great-fire-of-london/.Accessed 29March2022
“WhatisChildTrauma?” nctsn.org, TheNationalChildTraumaticStressNetwork.(2022,March26).
https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects