31 pages • 1 hour read

Ave Maria

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1964

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

The TV Set

The TV set appears toward the end of the poem: “your children grow old and blind in front of a TV set” (Line 34). Here it represents the cinema in microcosm but also a sense of degradation; it is smaller, duller, and less exciting than the theatrical experience the children were denied. At the time this poem was written household televisions would have been in black and white (rather than the technicolor popular in cinemas) and of low image and sound quality. Rather than being a delight of the senses, this moment shows how the children—now adults—have fallen into banal mediocrity. It is not a delayed reward, but a sorry compensation for something that was taken away from them in their youth.

Ironically, this seems to be the moment where the children’s innocence is lost forever. While the poem as a whole has distinct sexual overtones, it’s never really presented as a loss or a descent the way so many sexualized narratives are. Instead, it’s an embrace of freedom. Without that freedom, the children’s innocence erodes slowly over time until they grow “old and blind” (Line 34). It’s this erosion that causes the hatred and isolation the speaker is cautioning against.

The Quarter

This line, “for their first sexual experience / which only cost you a quarter” (Line 13-14), comes exactly halfway through the poem and represents its major turning point. Here the quarter refers to the price of a cinema ticket; however, the poem shows us that the cinema ticket represents so much more than a simple movie screening. The flippancy of the line suggests that this cost (roughly $2.50 by contemporary standards) would be easily absorbed and forgotten, while the experiences granted by it would be remembered forever.

Despite its flippancy, however, there’s still a transactional undertone to this moment, which makes it stand out from the rest of the narrative. The “sexual experience” (Line 13), despite being framed as a positive and necessary part of growing up, does come at a cost. Here the payment of the quarter is juxtaposed against the true cost at risk, which is that of a loving family and the support it brings: Twenty-five cents, the poem seems to be saying, is all it takes to hold your family together. Thus, the offhand voice used in this moment serves to underline the major theme of the poem. The speaker offers a cheap and appealing solution to a much bigger problem, cautioning against the larger price to be paid.

The Movie Screen

The movie screen is never directly acknowledged, only alluded to in the lines “in darkness, embossed by silvery images” (Line 6) and “some glamorous country / they first saw on a Saturday afternoon” (Lines 10-11). However, it is the entire backbone of the story arc. The poem professes a deep love for film and the social experience of going out to see them on the big screen. The words “glamorous country” (Line 6) illustrate how the movie screen becomes a gateway to other worlds and other lives. Without these cultural and spiritual experiences, the children grow up to be inhibited and bitter.

Rather than being an overtly sexualized means to an end, the viewing here is presented as its own reward: “they’ll have been truly entertained either way” (Line 25). More than simple entertainment, the movie screen represents its own kind of coming-of-age experience. Thus, the cinema trip isn’t solely about the possibility of meeting a stranger and learning something new about life; the children need both experiences, the sexual awakening and the awakening that comes from visual storytelling, to be complete. This balance is seen in the phrase “the darker joys” (Line 30)—or the sexual experiences—and “silvery images” (Line 6)—or the cinematic experiences. The contrast in “darker” and “silvery” ties these thoughts together in a cohesive image and underlines the idea that both are a necessary part of growing up.