A Study Guide for Maxine Kumin's "Address to the Angels"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Maxine Kumin's "Address to the Angels," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Aug 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535817615

Book preview

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Address to the Angels

Maxine Kumin

1978

Introduction

When Address to the Angels first appeared in Maxine Kumin's book The Retrieval System (1978), she had been mourning the loss of Anne Sexton, a fellow poet and personal friend, for four years. The title poem in this book refers to her metaphorical notion that one can retrieve lost loved ones through the expressions and behavior of their animals—in Kumin's case, her dog has the brown eyes of [her] father, now dead, her goat blats in the tiny voice of an old piano teacher, also dead, and a boy she once loved keeps coming back as a yearling colt. Address to the Angels continues the sentiment of The Retrieval System, for it, too, is about personal loss and the role of animals in helping humans come to terms with it. It is also about the role of angels who purportedly circulate among us to keep humans from being alone when facing tragic events. This is not a religious poem, yet it is not wholly unreligious either. While it may reveal a cynical view on how much comfort angels really offer, it also reflects a persistence to carry on in spite of doubt and insists that each person needs individual resolve to overcome