"Ana" by Mark McWatt

“Ana” is about two conflicting images of Ana: how her father (the speaker and a poet) expects and hopes she will behave and how she actually does. In the first stanza, the speaker is a proud father of a baby girl and imagines her playing peacefully in a garden. The second stanza (one line) describes the scene as a “calm and quiet” one. It establishes the contrast between the first stanza and the third in which a rambunctious girl creates a chaotic world for the speaker. In the third stanza, the speaker confesses he has given up his ‘dream’ which was described in the first stanza. The finally stanza mirrors the calm and quiet world of the first stanza, as the speaker describes how peaceful she is when she is asleep.

Themes: Hardship, poverty, determination, ambition, class.

Structure: Free verse poem with five stanzas

Tone: 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th stanzas: proud, happy and peaceful. 3^rd stanza: angry, aggressive and pitiful (and like a fool/Daddy does it again). 4^th stanza: resignation

Mood: happy, peaceful, and chaotic

Literary Devices:

1. Metaphor

Line 9: “world of green” – youth

3^rd – 5^th stanzas (in particular lines 22, 48, 49) monkey and wild animal - Ana

2. Simile

Line 42, 43 – “And yet when she is curled in sleep,/ like a comma”

3. Alliteration

Line 6, 18, 25

4. Imagery: (throughout) 23-26, 34-35, 46-49
5. Bracketed Asides: lines 20, 22

Asides are conventionally used in drama when the actor speaks in an undertone or to the audience without the actors on the stage hearing. It is used similarly in poetry. The speaker may be communicating something to the reader that the other personas in the poem will not hear. In addition, it carries a certain undertone, usually sarcasm. 

Comprehension questions:

1. What is the speaker’s occupation?
2. How did he imagine his daughter would behave?
3. How does she actually behave?
4. Identify the nouns, verbs and adjectives that show her behaviour.
5. What metaphor is used to emphasize her behaviour?
6. What is the speaker’s attitude towards his daughter? Give evidence from the poem.
7. Do you think she is aware of how he views her?
8. Does the speaker think she will ever behave the way he wants her to? Give evidence from the poem to support your answer.
9. When does the speaker find that his daughter matches his expectations of her?