How do you analyze the topic of each stanza in the poem "Without Hands" by Lorna Crozier?  

The subjects in each stanza are everything that couldn't be done without hands. First, in the first stanza, machines were used to torture Victor Jara and could not be done without hands. Eating utensils and babies also could not be done without hands. Music, though, could not be written down or played unless it was done with the hands; and plums could not be eaten unless they were picked from a tree by hand. Second, in the second stanza: writers would have no way to write about their experiences if they didn't have hands; family members and friends would not have been able to hold each other close during family gatherings if they didn't have hands; and a grandmother'

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

You are asking "how" to summarize Lorna Croizer's poem, "Without Hands."    For this poem, I suggest you simply summarize what it is in each stanza that couldn't be done without hands.

First, in case you are unaware, the poem was written to honor a Chilean musician, Victor Jara, whose hands were smashed by soldiers to keep him from playing his guitar to fellow prisoners while they were being kept in Santiago stadium.  After being tortured, he and thousands of others were killed, Jara in September, 1973.

For your summary, I will list the broad categories written about in each stanza, and leave the filling in of the details for you:

  1. Machines, eating utensils, babies, music, and plums
  2. Writers
  3. Family or domestic life
  4. The speaker's grandmother

The final three stanzas are unified by the subjects I've listed.  In other words, everything mentioned is an element of the subject I've listed.

The first stanza, though, touches on all five subjects listed. 

To summarize, simply write in your own words the subjects I've listed, in sentence form, of course, and fill in the most important details from each stanza.  For instance, a brief listing of the things a writer could not write about without hands for the second stanza would constitute a summary of that stanza. 

See eNotes Ad-Free

Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial Team