17 pages • 34 minutes read
Some Afternoons She Does Not Pick Up the Phone
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
“Some Afternoons She Does Not Pick Up the Phone” is a 10-line unrhymed lyric poem by Canadian poet and classicist Anne Carson. The poem was first published in the collection Decreation in 2005. An eclectic collection, Decreation contains short lyric poems as well as a screenplay and long prose passages. The thematic concern of the collection is examining and deconstructing the individual self. In “Some Afternoons,” this theme plays out through the self-effacing speaker and their identification with the wintry, icy landscape outside. The speaker describes being stuck in the month of February when ice dominates the landscape. The ice has such a profound effect on the speaker that the boundary between self and landscape begins to blur.
“Some Afternoons” can be regarded as a mid-career poem for Carson, whose publishing career began in 1986. The poem’s visual imagery, engagement with despair, and its subtle, open-ended metaphors are a staple of Carson’s writing style. Unlike many of her other poems, “Some Afternoons” does not contain allusions to Greek and Roman classics, or attempt the mode of Unlock all 17 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
