My grandmothers were strong.
My grandmothers are full of memories
Smelling of soap and onions and wet clay
With veins rolling roughly over quick hands
They have many clean words to say. 10
My grandmothers were strong.
Why am I not as they?Poem Summary
Stanza 1
Walker’s two-stanza poem ‘‘Lineage’’ begins with
a line that denotes the main theme of her work.
This first line is repeated twice more, emphasizing
the strength of the speaker’s grandmothers.
The first stanza differs from the second stanza
in form and text. In the first stanza, the poet
presents the grandmothersas if she is envisioning
them. The poet creates verbal pictures of strong
women toiling in a field, and she provides very
specific images of what the women looked like as
they worked. The first image is of the women
steadying a plow as it digs deep into the earth. In
case it is not certain in the minds of the readers
that this is hard work, the speaker indicates the
effort these women made in bending their backs as
they toil. It is not certain if the plow is being pulled
by a horse or ox with the women mainly steering
the plow, or if the plow moves through the efforts
of the women pushing it. Either way, whether the
women are helped or not by an animal, the work
they are doing requires bending of the back, which
insinuates great effort.
In the third line of the first stanza, the women
change work positions. They are now scattering
seeds. The planting of seeds can be done in two
ways. Some seeds might be thrown from a standing
position. The women might pass through the fields
dropping seeds into the furrows that the plowing
has left behind. In this situation, the women might
have straight backs as they walk along. However,
some types of seeds need to be manually planted.
This means the women might be bent over the
earth, pushing the seeds into the ground and cover-
ing them with soil. The seeding process might not be
as physically demanding as the plowing, but it can
be extremely tiring and hard on the body. Regard-
less of whether these women are slaves or tenant
farmers, the nature of their job requires long, hard
labor. The seeds must be planted within a window
of time in order to take advantage of the growing
season. So the women may work in the fields in a
succession of twelve or more hours each day.
In the fourth line of the first stanza, the
women are rewarded, at least in one way. They
are also described in this line almost as if they are
magical goddesses. The seeds they have planted,
because these women have touched the earth,
will now grow. The speaker does not provide
enough detail in this poem for readers to know
if these fields in which the women work are
theirs. So readers do not know how the women
are rewarded when the plants grow. It is not
known if these crops belong to them or if they
provide the labor and do not reap the benefits of
the plants. The crops may well belong to some-
one else. However, there is still a sense of reward.
The combination of the seeds, the earth, and the
women’s touch has made the fields come alive.
The women have encouraged the seeds to grow.
They have acted as creators of the food that the
grain will eventually provide. They know that
someone will benefit from their labor. If they
do not share in the rewards of the crops, they
at least know that if not for them, the fields
would have lain fallow.
In the fifth line, the speaker subtly suggests
that the women’s true reward is internal. Although
their labor is harsh, it also makes them strong,
both physically and mentally. That is one reason
why they are singing. They have learned to rise
above their circumstances, no matter how harsh
they are, and sing. The speaker does not state
what kind of song they sing, whether it is sad or
joyful. She seems to imply that it does not make
any difference. The mention of their singing comes
immediately after the speaker has mentioned how
sturdy they are. Immediately following the song,
the speaker repeats how strong her grandmothers
are. It is possible to infer that the speaker believes
that the songs the grandmothers sing make them
even stronger.Stanza 2
The way that the speaker remembers her grand-
mothers changes in the second stanza. Whereas
in the first stanza, the images that the speaker
provides are visual, as if she were watching her
grandmothers working, in the second stanza, the
speaker uses her other senses to remember these
women.
In the first line of the second stanza, the speaker
flips a statement around: rather than stating that
she is full of memories of her grandmothers, she
places the memories inside her grandmothers. By
doing this, the speaker gives her grandmothers full
credit for the memories, as if they are the ones
carrying them, and it is the speaker’s task to findLineage