Gershon’s Poetry Essay, Research Paper
Intercultural Matriarchal Figures in Gershon s “Ruth” and
“Esther”
Gershon uses biblical midrash to reexamine the place of the
matriarchal figure after the Shoah. Both poems center on one
central female from the bible, although one is identified as a
Jew, while one is identified as furthering the lineage of
Christ. Both poems give these women the power of choice, which
they do not have in the typical biblical text. Both poems show
the power of man as motivation over the power of God. Although
there is an absence of the God figure in Ruth, it is present in
“Esther.” Gershon enters, through her poetry, these separate
women to
In the first stanza of “Ruth,” we learn that Ruth descends from
a line of Christians, which immediately contrasts to the
speaker s religion, in the form of Gershon. Although the speaker
and Ruth share different religions they have many things in
common. The first example of this is in the line “She preferred
exile to being alone,” (Gershon, 4) whereby, even though the
exile of Gershon s people was not voluntary, both Gershon and
Ruth share the experience of exile. The idea of being a
“stranger” is shared by both the speaker and Ruth. This is the
first time where the speaker enters into Ruth s character. At
the end of the second major verse paragraph, the speaker is
speculating on Ruth s feelings, saying “Did she feel, I have
come home (Gershon, 10)?” This line exhibits both the mutual
feelings shared and the idea of a home that is unnatural, or one
that has to be rebuilt. This idea is furthered in the second
section where Ruth looks to her birthplace but knows she cannot
go back to it.
The second and fourth sections of this poem deal with the
aspects of trying to live an ordinary existence under the
conditions of being a “stranger.” Aspects of life that should be
natural, such as sleeping and mothering, are unable to be done
by those who are exiled. Gershon uses the line “She was a
stranger even in her sleep,” (Gershon, 11) and then repeats the
phrasing in this line “She was a stranger even as a mother,”
(Gershon, 31) showing a further connection between both exiled
persons. The second line is more poignant because mothering
should be natural to women and it is not. In this poem, there
is no mention of God. Ruth accepts the exile because of her son.
The last two lines immediately reminded me of Gershon s work
“Sarah,” where the power of God is diminished. “Oh honey in the
desert that is man,/ I love you better than I do my own
(Gershon, 39-40).” In these lines Ruth is commenting on the fact
that she loves her offspring and his people more than she loves
her own people. The story of Ruth is one of revival and this is
evident in the line “I have come out of death to be remade
(Gershon, 19).” This idea of revival and the furthering the
lineage explains why both Ruth and Gershon carry on their lives
after such tragedies.
The third section brings together the connection between
Gershon and Ruth. This is the first time in the poem that the
pronoun “I” is referring not to Ruth, but to the speaker. This
is shown by the mention of Auschwitz and the crucifixion. The
central question of the poem is in the lines “Or did she also
feel closer to/ past and future generations/ than to the people
she lived among (Gershon, 29-30)?” Gershon does not answer this
question until the end of the poem, where she mentions the idea
of motherhood as a reason to accept the exile and to continue
on. She uses the idea of doing something natural in an unnatural
place as a reason to continue after the Shoah. By entering into
a Christian female she is both commenting on the fact that what
connects the Christian and Jewish community is more natural-
sleep or motherhood- than what separates them, which is man
made.
In the poem “Esther,” Gershon again shows a major female figure
in the bible. The choosing of Esther is deliberate in showing
the position of the Jews surviving after the Shoah. Like “Ruth,”
Esther is also a stranger. The fact that Gershon uses the phrase
“upstart orphan,” (Gershon 3) refers both to Gershon herself
being a stranger and to the people who are literally left
without parents. Gershon begins this poem, unlike “Ruth” with
the speaker s position, recalling a time when Haman was the
worst threat to the Jewish community. There is an odd sense of
time in the first verse paragraph. The speaker is looking back
to both her childhood, while retaining her adult memories and
also, at the same time, imagining the long ago past of Esther s
time. This poem starts out as having two distinctive pasts
coexisting: the past of Esther and the past of the speaker. This
helps Gershon to enter fully into Esther s character. This also
creates a parallel between the two women which is strengthened
by the fact that they are both orphans.
The second section of the poem sets up a contradiction within
itself. There is a sense that Esther is alone and at the same
time she is not. This is shown in the first line of the section
“I m not alone, she thought, walking alone,” (Gershon, 6) which
shows that she is physically alone but not spiritually. This is
the first time that Esther appeals to God, although God remains
silent throughout the rest of the poem. The contradiction in
this section is also shown in the line “You ve all mankind and I
have only me (Gershon, 12).” In this poem, as in both “Ruth” and
“Sarah,” Gershon gives Esther the choice of furthering history.
Esther is given hindsight and the ability to choose the fate of
her people.
The third section furthers the parallel between Gershon and
Esther by having the speaker connect their experiences. As in
“Ruth,” Ester s world “About her lay/ alien with hostility
(Gershon, 18-19).” Gershon is in the same contradiction that
Esther is in, namely being alone and being surrounded by those
who are not present. Gershon, like Esther becomes the voice of
those who cannot speak for themselves. This is shown in the
second section with the line “All those whose lives are
threatened are with me,” (Gershon, 8) and then again in the
third section in the line “She must have heard her elders pray,/
return us to Jerusalem (Gershon, 20-21).” This furthers the idea
of being a stranger in “Ruth,” by explaining another thing that
helps one to be connected to what they have lost.
The final section shows the speaker s thoughts on God. There is
no omnipotent God in this poem. “God s gamble on the compassion
between men,” (Gershon, 25) shows that God does not know what he
is doing, and he cannot guarantee the outcome. Gershon gives the
power to the woman that God “needs.” This is a strongly feminist
poem, and Gershon goes so far as to have Ester pity God for
needing her. Esther grows strength not from God, but from her
pity for God. The images of “fire” and “brambles” give Esther a
God-like power in this poem. From the image of both the fire and
the brambles, one instantly thinks of Moses and the burning
bush- but in this case Esther is the one with the fire and the
power. Also, the thorns on the brambles are reminiscent of
another God-like image, and since the image is reverted, so is
the placing of the thorns. This starkly contrasts to the “green
and dancing hills” (Gershon, 22) that represent her people in
the third section.
The last verse paragraph of this poem contains a very ambiguous
antecedent. The verse paragraph begins with Esther praying to be
brave for her people. Her motivation for doing this is to
continue the lineage of her people. God is less of a factor
behind Esther s decision to confront the king. The pronoun “you”
in this section is very ambiguous. Esther wants to be equal to
the world that God made, defining the first antecedent of the
word you in the last verse paragraph. The second use of the word
you totally strips God of any power. Gershon, in writing “A girl
you would have passed by in the street/ who squared her
shoulders as she hurried on,” (Gershon, 31-32) gives Esther the
power by allowing her to square her shoulders in God s presence.
“All the future acts of courage” (Gershon, 33) are given to
Esther, and Gershon, but are brought away from God.
In both poems, there are examples of matriarchal settings in
which females are given the ability to choose that they are not
given in the bible. Also, present in these poems are the power
of man as motivation rather than the power of God. There is an
absence of God in “Ruth” and God is stripped of his power in
“Esther.”
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