Graveyard Blues

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2006

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The Weather

From the start of “Graveyard Blues” Trethewey uses the weather to symbolize the feelings of the speaker and to create the mood and tone of the poem. “It rained the whole time we were laying her down” (Line 1) the poem begins, followed by the repeated “Rained from church to grave” (Line 2). By opening with rain, Trethewey immediately sets a dark, damp, cold, and depressed scene. By repeating and reiterating that the rain lasted “from the church to grave” (Line 2), it feels as though the rain was everywhere, overwhelming the poem. This sets a melancholic mood and tone. In Line 3, “The suck of mud” (Line 3) creates “a hollow sound” (Line 3), deepening the imagery of the outside world being wet and miserable, which is reflected in the speaker’s self.

In line 7 the weather remains symbolic, as the speaker notes “The sun came out when I turned to walk away” (Line 7). The line is clarified by the following line, repeating “Glared down on me as I turned and walked away” (Line 8). Because the sun “Glared down” (Line 8) on the speaker, the sun coming out is not a positive moment in the poem. Instead, it gives a sense of discord; the speaker does not feel right leaving, so it is as if the glaring sun judges the speaker for turning and walking away from the buried mother.

Line 10 also uses the imagery of the weather and the outside world as a symbol for how the speaker feels. “The road going home was pocked with holes, / That home-going road’s always full of holes” (Lines 10-11). Although the rain has ceased and the sun has come out, the speaker still views the world through a depressed, sad, and grief-ridden lens; the road is not smooth or clear, it is full of bumpy, uncomfortable holes one must slowly navigate. This road is a symbol for the speaker’s return to the world following the death, funeral, and burying of their mother.

Trethewey uses the weather and imagery of the outside world to establish the mood and tone of “Graveyard Blues” and to shine light on the speaker’s inner feelings and perspective–that of depression, sadness, and difficulty–following this significant life moment.

Holes

Holes symbolizing emptiness are peppered throughout “Graveyard Blues” in literal and metaphorical representation. From the start of the poem, the place of a graveyard is established in the title. The first line, “It rained the whole time we were laying her down” (Line 1) takes place at the gravesite as they are lowering the speaker’s mother into the grave, which is a deep hole in the ground. The symbol of holes occurs throughout the poem in various literal and metaphorical representations. For example, in the line “The suck of mud at our feet was a hollow sound” (Line 3), there is the literal hole of the footsteps in the mud and the metaphorical hole of the “hollow sound” (Line 3), which symbolizes, by way of the word “hollow” (Line 3), an emptiness and loss.

The imagery of holes appears again later in the poem in Lines 10-11: “The road going home was pocked with holes / That home-going road’s always full of holes” (Lines 10-11). In line 10 these holes are literal, while the holes encountered on the road of a homegoing is more figurative, symbolizing the emotional pitfalls of grief. In both cases, the holes in the road symbolize an uncomfortable, rough ride home that must be handled carefully. The speaker is returning home without a mother; the road symbolizes the difficult road ahead for the speaker who must navigate grief, loss, and come to terms with the difficulty of their mother’s murder. Holes in “Graveyard Blues” are more than descriptions for the outside world; they represent the inner world of the speaker, a world fraught with emptiness, loneliness, confusion, and darkness.

Laying Down

The symbol of laying down is repeated throughout “Graveyard Blues” starting with the first line: “It rained the whole time we were laying her down; / Rained from church to grave when we put her down” (Lines 1-2). Narratively, the symbol of laying down in the beginning of the poem references the mother being laid down in the grave. The symbol returns in Line 9 after the sun comes out and the speaker turns to walk away from their mother’s gravesite, stating “My back to my mother, leaving her where she lay” (Line 9). Again, the concept of “lay” (Line 9) or resting on the ground references the mother’s body.

While it is clear that the early mentions of laying in the poem refer to the mother’s final resting place, the speaker is also pictured laying in the poem. In Line 14, the speaker states, “My mother’s name, stone pillow for my head” (Line 14). Suddenly, the speaker is the one who has laid down to rest her head on her mother’s grave. The poem shifts to the present–out of the memory of the funeral–as the speaker visits the mother’s headstone. The speaker, who “[wanders] now among names of the dead” (Line 13) lays themself down at their mother’s grave, repeating or mimicking the action done to the mother in the first stanza: “It rained the whole time we were laying her down,” (Line 1). By shifting at the end of the poem, this act of laying down symbolizes the weight of the speaker’s grief, as well as a way the speaker connects with their mother in this graveside moment. Laying down symbolizes both the mother’s final resting place in death, and the speaker’s surrender to memory and grief in their return to the mother’s graveside.