I Stop Writing the Poem

What is the main conflict in I Stop Writing the Poem by Tess Gallagher?

Asked by
Last updated by Jill W
1 Answers
Log in to answer

Tess Gallagher's "I Stop Writing the Poem" explores the conflict between
domestic labor and literary work in discursive lines that are completely free of im- ages and other figures of speech. While the poem's content is interesting because it is shyly ironic, suggesting that the domestic work that is the poem's central action is a woman's "true" work while simultaneously suggesting that a woman poet's writing is also important and "true," the poem ultimately fails because it does not complicate or enrich its content with its form. In other words, because Gallagher does not sufficiently enhance her discursive statements with images and other figures of speech or with unexpected shifts in sentence type and syntax, she fails to make her poem as energetic and therefore convincing as it could be.

Source(s)

I Stop Writing the Poem