poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I have no quarrel with Margaret Atwood, one of my favorite authors. I do have a problem with the last stanza of this poem. If "rock" is a noun, it stands in apposition to the "we" in the preceding stanza. This would require a comma immediately before the beginning of the last stanza. If "rock' is a verb, it will not take the possessive "your."

You rock in the rain's arms,
the chilly ark of your sleep,
while we wait...

So is "rock" a noun (as it stands) or a verb?

Joel:

It's "You rock..." - it's a verb. The "your" was a typo.

Thanks for letting us know (in your not-too-subtle way ;)

-- Jough.

why would it matter if rock is a noun or a verb it is a poem? a word can be used in many ways, meaning different things. i mean c'mon it says "you rock" doesn't that give you the clue that it's not a noun

I think this is one of those poems where the biggest mistake one can make is to go overboard while trying to interpret it. It's probably not meant to be logically explained. After I had read it a few times I was convinced that much of the symbolism found in this poem is only supposed to be understood by Margaret Atwood herself. Overall I think that the narator is talking to himself/herself as opposed to a reader or second character.