The Fugue (Symbol)
A fugue is a musical form that consists of two components: a primary melody and a “counterpoint” that juxtaposes with the primary melody. The fugue symbolizes the two key components of the woman’s portrayal: her passion for music and her duties as a mother. Just as a fugue contrasts and interweaves its two musical subjects, throughout the poem the woman struggles to balance her need to practice music with her need to care for her children and manage the household. However, the poem also implies that the strict, demanding role of motherhood in suburbia is disrupting the balance between these two passions. The woman’s nausea “overpower[s] / subject and counter-subject” (lines 5-6). These lines use the two musical components of the fugue to suggest that the woman’s domestic life is superseding her musical life, resulting in discordance and “nausea.” Like a song that is performed off-melody, there is a sense of unease and dissatisfaction that lingers throughout the poem.
The Burned Pot (Symbol)
The burned pot symbolizes the constant burdens and distractions that the woman faces as a mother. The woman is frustrated when she cannot prevent the pot from overflowing, representing how she feels she cannot keep up with her household responsibilities and creative passions simultaneously. “Boil over” is also an idiomatic expression for a person becoming uncontrollably angry or emotional—they can no longer contain their intense, negative emotions, so they express them, often in an exaggerated way. This idiom suggests that the woman is feeling overwhelmed by the chaos of her domestic life and is reaching a breaking point in her attempt to balance the demands of music and domestic life. She is also “too late” to prevent the pot from boiling over, further building on the theme of regret in the poem—she feels that it is too late to rescue her musical career and return to the high point of performing for Rubinstein. As she notes in a resigned manner, her fugue “can matter / to no one now” (lines 1-2). However, she continues practicing and attempting to salvage her career just as she attempted to remove the boiling pot from the burner but was too late.
The Drain (Symbol)
The drain symbolizes the woman’s vanishing aspirations and dreams. Like the soapy water flowing down the drain and disappearing, the woman feels that her past life and focus on music have drained away due to the demands of motherhood. Additionally, the mother’s many responsibilities are physically and psychologically draining. In the short space of the poem, she must practice her complicated music, hush her children, clean a pot, comfort her children, and dispose of a dead mouse. The quickly-packed action within the compact poem demonstrates the constant burdens and demands of motherhood, which are symbolized by the drain because they are “draining.” Line 7 makes this connection clear, as it states that “[z]est and love” drained out of the pot along with the water. The woman’s energy and passion are symbolically being washed down the drain by domestic life.
The Mouse (Symbol)
The dead mouse symbolizes the death of the woman’s aspirations and of her identity as a musician. The children observe the dead mouse, establishing the connection between the children and the death of their mother’s dream. They “caper” and gather around the mousetrap, creating a claustrophobic tone as their demands have implicitly crowded out the mother’s ambitions. Furthermore, the mouse’s death was not organic, but was a product of a deliberately set trap. This “trap” represents the cultural norms, particularly in the early 1960s when the poem was published, that demand women take on the role of mothers and household supervisors. The mother herself is tasked with salvaging the mouse, which symbolically represents herself confronting the reality of her dead dream.
The Magazine Paper (Symbol)
The magazine paper symbolizes the juxtaposition between an idealized, commercialized vision of motherhood and the realities of domestic life. It references “stale bread” being converted into “tasty dishes,” suggesting that women are tasked with the labor of transforming their limited resources, like stale bread, into sustenance for their families. Yet the mother’s life is more like the stale bread itself, without the veneer of happiness that the magazine claims is possible. In fact, she is using the magazine paper to dispose of a dead mouse, which contrasts with its cheerful implication that the more disappointing aspects of life can be hidden or transformed. The magazine further demonstrates the mundanity of domestic life. Cooking, like music, can be a form of creativity and expression, but for the mother it appears to a be a frustrating, routine task, as evidenced by her exhaustion while scouring the pot. The magazine’s claim suggests that women should conceal their dissatisfaction behind a palatable veneer, turning the “stale” reality into a “tasty” vision. Thus, the magazine sells a fantasy of ideal motherhood that is belied by the experiences of women like the poem’s protagonist.
