English Literature

Lorna Goodisons poem entitled Survivor is a remarkable piece because of its richness in meaning and the writers wise choice of words to depict a valuable message. The poem touches on the themes of pain, tragedy, and hope. Goodisons work enumerates in the beginning different accounts of hardships one had to survive from in order to attain peace towards the end. The main message Survivor is how one nation stood up again after defeat and failure to rebuild itself piece by piece and invest in the hope of becoming stronger in the future.

The first part of the poem tackles about the reality of pain and injustice. Goodison used the term strangers to portray the people who have inflicted the pain the subject of the poem. Based on the descriptions of the poet, there are certain groups of people who abused and imposed destruction on the land that Goodison was talking about. Being strangers, they do not really belong in the land but they were able to stay in there for many years. These strangers may be the colonizers who wanted to take over the country because they are unknown people when they arrive and yet they are able to influence and remain in the land for a very long time. Goodison described how these people took most living things in the land, an act that is always part of every colonizers plan whenever they arrive at a new land (4).

One of the lines in the poem described how these colonizers took everything, even some rare specieswith half extended wings which described the lack of concern they have shown to the people (Goodison, 5-6). The poem was very descriptive in portraying the image of tragedy that happened in the nation. Goodison further highlighted the pain by using the words extinct (8) and mourning (12) which represents the mistreatments caused by the colonizers. The first half of the poem was very detailed in narrating just how devastated and tragic was the situation of the nation. According to the poem, the colonizers were very thorough in their plunderings that left almost nothing to the land they have conquered.

But as the poem continues, Goodison effectively infused a positive and more hopeful second half of the poem. The poem described that the nation was a survivor for overcoming the pain and tragedy that were caused by the colonizers. And what is braver is that they used the lessons of pain to develop a sense of hope for a better and brighter future. Goodison brilliantly used the line how creative God is with ribs to describe that even if all that remains from the nation are broken ribs, Gods providence will still save them (16-17). The line is an allusion to the story of Creation wherein God used some of Adams ribs to create the first woman, Eve. This is to relay the message that God could create anything and that there is no need to lose hope for the nation.

The poem described that despite whatever experiences that the nation had from these strangers, who have treated them with hostility and crudeness, the nation was still able to survive and surpass all hardships. Goodisons poem continued with the message of hope by saying that being a survivor does not mean that one would only continue to live with what is only left from their destroyed lives. One of the implied messages of the poem is that being a survivor is equal to a responsibility to rise again and begin the rebuilding process of the nation. Hope is both a challenge and a gift for them to utilize everything they have left to rise again and rebuild themselves a brighter and more promising future.
The character of a woman that is used in the second part of the poem is an allusion to the nation as a whole. She is a survivor because she was given another chance in life and existence. Also, with her survival lie the hope of her future sons and the people of the nation. The poem continued with a couple of other brilliant lines like how Goodison described how her protagonist had some seeds stored under her tongue that she intend to plant before tending to her son. These seeds of hope are the main weapons that the nation had against the strangers who took away everything from them. The nation survived because what keeps them going is something that is hidden inside of them and was not taken away. Goodison further emphasized the hope for the nation through the words bone flute music (28) and grace songs (30) to describe that after the tragedy, they were able to rise again and find in themselves the appreciation for music and the hope for a more peaceful, progressive life.

Survivor is a poem that effectively narrated a story of pain in the beginning and the attainment of hope in the end. The survivor of the poem, the nation as a whole, was able to survive the inflicted pain by the colonizers. They were able to surpass all tragic experiences of the past and this paved way for them to find the sense of hope and reason to continue building a new life for the future. By using all the lessons they have gained from their hardships and pain, and by harnessing whatever they have left, the survivor will have a bigger chance of having a brighter future and stronger nation.