Mute In The Pear Tree Analysis

Defamiliarization in Page’s poem: “Deaf-Mute in the Pear Tree”
Page uses various methods of defamiliarization to change our perceptions of imperfection versus beauty as well the idea of deafness and muteness being imperfections. Some of these methods include incorporating ambiguity into her poem as well as contrasting the musicality of the poem and beautiful imagery to our preconceived ideas of imperfection and how we view deafness and muteness as imperfections and limitations. Defamiliarization in this poem also serves other purposes, but I have focused mainly on these aspects of defamiliarization.
There are two basic interpretations of this poem. Either it could be interpreted as a poem about a tree and the defamiliarization of the tree,

This already gives us a preconceived and stereotypical view of the man and his limitations. We already form the idea that the man is imperfect, limited and that he cannot fully experience the world. However as the poem continues the narrator starts to describe the experiences of the man rather than just his physical attributes, This description of experience allows the reader to empathize with the man’s situation and relate, to a further extent, to this man. Furthermore this also draws the reader into the narrative of the text and captivates their attention to a further extent. The idea of the man’s physical limitations are emphasized through Page’s use of the words “blunt fingers” and “thick-nobbed” (Line 3 & 7) and other similar imagery, creating a sort of clumsy image of the man and emphasizing the initial impression that one may get of a deaf and mute man. The fruitfulness of the tree is contrasted with this ugliness as well as the later imagery of the man and wife coming together and the beauty of that situation. This defamiliarizes us to the stereotypical depiction of a deaf and mute man that we’ve preconceived; portraying rather than the ugliness of his brokenness, the beauty of being able to conceive the world in a completely different way.

(1507 words – without citation)

Reference list
Page, P. (2015). Deaf-Mute in the Pear Tree by P. K. Page : The Poetry Foundation. [online] Poetryfoundation.org. Available at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177067 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2015].
Smith, S. (2005). Poem of the Week: Poem of the Week 11/7/2005: Deaf-Mute in the Pear Tree. [online] Thepoemoftheweek.blogspot.com. Available at: http://thepoemoftheweek.blogspot.com/2005/11/poem-of-week-1172005-deaf-mute-in-pear.html [Accessed 13 Mar.