Gershon’s Poetry Essay, Research Paper

Intercultural Matriarchal Figures in Gershon s “Ruth” and

“Esther”

Gershon uses biblical midrash to reexamine the place of the

matriarchal figure after the Shoah. Both poems center on one

central female from the bible, although one is identified as a

Jew, while one is identified as furthering the lineage of

Christ. Both poems give these women the power of choice, which

they do not have in the typical biblical text. Both poems show

the power of man as motivation over the power of God. Although

there is an absence of the God figure in Ruth, it is present in

“Esther.” Gershon enters, through her poetry, these separate

women to

In the first stanza of “Ruth,” we learn that Ruth descends from

a line of Christians, which immediately contrasts to the

speaker s religion, in the form of Gershon. Although the speaker

and Ruth share different religions they have many things in

common. The first example of this is in the line “She preferred

exile to being alone,” (Gershon, 4) whereby, even though the

exile of Gershon s people was not voluntary, both Gershon and

Ruth share the experience of exile. The idea of being a

“stranger” is shared by both the speaker and Ruth. This is the

first time where the speaker enters into Ruth s character. At

the end of the second major verse paragraph, the speaker is

speculating on Ruth s feelings, saying “Did she feel, I have

come home (Gershon, 10)?” This line exhibits both the mutual

feelings shared and the idea of a home that is unnatural, or one

that has to be rebuilt. This idea is furthered in the second

section where Ruth looks to her birthplace but knows she cannot

go back to it.

The second and fourth sections of this poem deal with the

aspects of trying to live an ordinary existence under the

conditions of being a “stranger.” Aspects of life that should be

natural, such as sleeping and mothering, are unable to be done

by those who are exiled. Gershon uses the line “She was a

stranger even in her sleep,” (Gershon, 11) and then repeats the

phrasing in this line “She was a stranger even as a mother,”

(Gershon, 31) showing a further connection between both exiled

persons. The second line is more poignant because mothering

should be natural to women and it is not. In this poem, there

is no mention of God. Ruth accepts the exile because of her son.

The last two lines immediately reminded me of Gershon s work

“Sarah,” where the power of God is diminished. “Oh honey in the

desert that is man,/ I love you better than I do my own

(Gershon, 39-40).” In these lines Ruth is commenting on the fact

that she loves her offspring and his people more than she loves

her own people. The story of Ruth is one of revival and this is

evident in the line “I have come out of death to be remade

(Gershon, 19).” This idea of revival and the furthering the

lineage explains why both Ruth and Gershon carry on their lives

after such tragedies.

The third section brings together the connection between

Gershon and Ruth. This is the first time in the poem that the

pronoun “I” is referring not to Ruth, but to the speaker. This

is shown by the mention of Auschwitz and the crucifixion. The

central question of the poem is in the lines “Or did she also

feel closer to/ past and future generations/ than to the people

she lived among (Gershon, 29-30)?” Gershon does not answer this

question until the end of the poem, where she mentions the idea

of motherhood as a reason to accept the exile and to continue

on. She uses the idea of doing something natural in an unnatural

place as a reason to continue after the Shoah. By entering into

a Christian female she is both commenting on the fact that what

connects the Christian and Jewish community is more natural-

sleep or motherhood- than what separates them, which is man

made.

In the poem “Esther,” Gershon again shows a major female figure

in the bible. The choosing of Esther is deliberate in showing

the position of the Jews surviving after the Shoah. Like “Ruth,”

Esther is also a stranger. The fact that Gershon uses the phrase

“upstart orphan,” (Gershon 3) refers both to Gershon herself

being a stranger and to the people who are literally left

without parents. Gershon begins this poem, unlike “Ruth” with

the speaker s position, recalling a time when Haman was the

worst threat to the Jewish community. There is an odd sense of

time in the first verse paragraph. The speaker is looking back

to both her childhood, while retaining her adult memories and

also, at the same time, imagining the long ago past of Esther s

time. This poem starts out as having two distinctive pasts

coexisting: the past of Esther and the past of the speaker. This

helps Gershon to enter fully into Esther s character. This also

creates a parallel between the two women which is strengthened

by the fact that they are both orphans.

The second section of the poem sets up a contradiction within

itself. There is a sense that Esther is alone and at the same

time she is not. This is shown in the first line of the section

“I m not alone, she thought, walking alone,” (Gershon, 6) which

shows that she is physically alone but not spiritually. This is

the first time that Esther appeals to God, although God remains

silent throughout the rest of the poem. The contradiction in

this section is also shown in the line “You ve all mankind and I

have only me (Gershon, 12).” In this poem, as in both “Ruth” and

“Sarah,” Gershon gives Esther the choice of furthering history.

Esther is given hindsight and the ability to choose the fate of

her people.

The third section furthers the parallel between Gershon and

Esther by having the speaker connect their experiences. As in

“Ruth,” Ester s world “About her lay/ alien with hostility

(Gershon, 18-19).” Gershon is in the same contradiction that

Esther is in, namely being alone and being surrounded by those

who are not present. Gershon, like Esther becomes the voice of

those who cannot speak for themselves. This is shown in the

second section with the line “All those whose lives are

threatened are with me,” (Gershon, 8) and then again in the

third section in the line “She must have heard her elders pray,/

return us to Jerusalem (Gershon, 20-21).” This furthers the idea

of being a stranger in “Ruth,” by explaining another thing that

helps one to be connected to what they have lost.

The final section shows the speaker s thoughts on God. There is

no omnipotent God in this poem. “God s gamble on the compassion

between men,” (Gershon, 25) shows that God does not know what he

is doing, and he cannot guarantee the outcome. Gershon gives the

power to the woman that God “needs.” This is a strongly feminist

poem, and Gershon goes so far as to have Ester pity God for

needing her. Esther grows strength not from God, but from her

pity for God. The images of “fire” and “brambles” give Esther a

God-like power in this poem. From the image of both the fire and

the brambles, one instantly thinks of Moses and the burning

bush- but in this case Esther is the one with the fire and the

power. Also, the thorns on the brambles are reminiscent of

another God-like image, and since the image is reverted, so is

the placing of the thorns. This starkly contrasts to the “green

and dancing hills” (Gershon, 22) that represent her people in

the third section.

The last verse paragraph of this poem contains a very ambiguous

antecedent. The verse paragraph begins with Esther praying to be

brave for her people. Her motivation for doing this is to

continue the lineage of her people. God is less of a factor

behind Esther s decision to confront the king. The pronoun “you”

in this section is very ambiguous. Esther wants to be equal to

the world that God made, defining the first antecedent of the

word you in the last verse paragraph. The second use of the word

you totally strips God of any power. Gershon, in writing “A girl

you would have passed by in the street/ who squared her

shoulders as she hurried on,” (Gershon, 31-32) gives Esther the

power by allowing her to square her shoulders in God s presence.

“All the future acts of courage” (Gershon, 33) are given to

Esther, and Gershon, but are brought away from God.

In both poems, there are examples of matriarchal settings in

which females are given the ability to choose that they are not

given in the bible. Also, present in these poems are the power

of man as motivation rather than the power of God. There is an

absence of God in “Ruth” and God is stripped of his power in

“Esther.”

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