Milk and Honey Essay Questions

How does the organization of milk and honey into four sections—“the hurting,” “the loving,” “the breaking,” and “the healing”—contribute to the meaning of the collection as a whole?

The collection milk and honey is chronologically organized into four sections that parallel the speaker’s steps to self-love and acceptance. In the first chapter, the speaker talks about various abuses she experienced as a child. Many of these poems discuss rape, molestation, and objectification of women by men, as well as issues within a family. The second chapter reflects on how the speaker comes to love herself through the experience of falling in love for the first time. In this chapter, the speaker is reminded of the sweetness of life. As she rejoices, she begins to come into herself and find a footing in the world. The third chapter, (which is the longest), deals with the pain the speaker feels after breaking up with her boyfriend. After the high of being in love, the speaker has now plummeted into sadness. However, unlike in "the hurting," the speaker asserts her self-worth even amidst her heartbreak. In the final chapter, the speaker moves beyond the bitterness of her breakup. She is truly able to love and accept herself entirely. The organization of the chapters into four thematically distinct sections creates the sense of the speaker's journey toward self-love, acceptance, and peace.

Identify at least three symbols that facilitate a feminist discussion in milk and honey.

milk and honey is written from a feminist perspective, which means that it prioritizes the wellbeing of women and the equality of the sexes. One of the most frequently occurring feministic symbols that appears in the book is body hair. In the final section, the speaker repeatedly references her own body hair and encourages other women to grow or shave their own body hair as they please. Because of Western and Eurocentric beauty standards, women are often pressured to remove their body hair because it is seen as unfeminine. However, the speaker points out that it is a natural part of being a woman and therefore women should never feel ashamed of it.

Another commonly used symbol in milk and honey is plants, representing both the resilience and beauty of the female spirit. Kaur uses plants such as flowers to inform her readers that even from pain and suffering, something beautiful will come about: “stay strong through your pain / grow flowers from it." Flowers and plants also adorn many of the drawings that accompany the poems. In one poem that discusses menstruation, a drawing of female anatomy is composed of plants.

Lastly, the speaker frequently cites her mother as a source of strength and wisdom. The speaker views mothers as the ultimate symbol of femininity and praises her own for her powerful love. The body of a pregnant woman is compared to god in one poem. The role of motherhood is one of nurturing in this collection. In another poem, the speaker wonders how anyone can pour so much energy into someone without wanting anything in return, and states that she will have to wait until she is a mother to understand this.

How does Kaur represent the speaker's experience with love throughout the collection?

Kaur captures the duality of love in her poems by differentiating between love and sex. Although the speaker confuses the two aspects of love in the initial sections, she is able to effectively make the distinction in the third and fourth sections. In “hurting,” we see that the speaker’s past experiences with abusive and controlling men prevent her from having healthy sexual and romantic relationships with other men as exemplified by the lines “i flinch when you touch me / i fear it is him.” In the second section, the speaker falls in love with a man who loves her back. In this relationship, the speaker experiences love and sex as they should be experienced, helping her to realize that not all sex is equivalent to true love. Her growing ability to distinguish between sex and love contributes to her eventual healing. After breaking up with her boyfriend in the third section, the speaker’s pain aids in her finally grasping the complexities of love and sex, as shown by the lines “this is where you must / understand the difference / between want and need / you may want that boy / but you certainly / don’t need him.” In the final section, the speaker has come to be enlightened on the duality of love. She has discovered that true love must come from within herself before it can come from another.

Explain the effect of lowercase lettering and spare punctuation on Kaur’s poems.

Kaur’s poems make use of lowercase letters and spare punctuation to emphasize the informality and simplicity of her poetry. Kaur has stated that this choice reflects her broader philosophy. One letter or word is not given the power to detract from others. This allows for readers to find meaning in each and every corner of her poems, not just the emphasized parts. Furthermore, the use of lowercase letters emphasizes the intentionally informal nature of milk and honey by creating a personal, diary-like feel. Kaur has also said that this writing style stems from the Punjabi language: Gurmukhi script (used in Punjab) does not use distinct upper and lower cases. Through writing in this way, Kaur honors her heritage and her experience as someone whose first language was not English.

How do the drawings contribute to the anthology?

The drawings in milk and honey add to the overall aesthetic qualities of the work, aid in the interpretation of the poems, and provide insight into Kaur’s personal relationship with her writing. milk and honey takes advantage of artistic design to attract and maintain the attention of readers. The collection's simplistic yet pleasing visual design fits with much of current popular art, a marketing tactic that Kaur quite successfully employs. Like any properly illustrated work, the drawings contribute to the reader's understanding of the poems. The drawings call forth the specific images and emotions that the poems are meant to evoke in readers. They reflect Kaur's own thoughts about her poetry and the way it makes her feel. For example, in a poem that discusses menstruation, the accompanying drawing depicts female anatomy in the form of plants. Similarly, body hair is shown as plants sprouting from the bodies of women. In this way, Kaur draws a connection between women's bodies and nature. Through them, Kaur opens up her own memories and experiences that inspired her to write. The doodles’ personal flair further connects readers to the author in a unique way.