The Youngest Daughter (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Cathy Song
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Dramatic monologue
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic monologue
- Subjects: Girls, Family or family life, Parents and children, Women, Asian Americans, Aging
The Poem
“The Youngest Daughter” is a monologue in fifty-two lines of delicately cadenced verse divided into five stanzas of differing lengths. The speaker of the poem is the youngest daughter of her family, and she is burdened with caring for her aging parent. Her monologue reveals a conflict of emotions within her: Love and pity for her invalid mother clash with feelings of resentment and entrapment for having to deny herself.
In the first stanza, Cathy Song evokes the effects of aging upon both women. The housebound daughter describes her skin becoming “damp/...
[The entire page is 1554 words long]
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