them. In a way, this makes the memories even more
special. The memories are not just things that the
speaker carries in her mind but rather are gifts that
the grandmothers bring to her. The other aspect of
the poem that makes the memories powerful is the
speaker’s use of images that readers can relate to.
So as the speaker recalls the memories, the reader
experiences them, too. This is especially true when
the speaker remembers the scents of her grand-
mothers. She recalls the women through the smells
of soap, onions, and clay. Largely these are com-
mon elements that almost anyone can relate to;
they are also strong scents that can easily be
brought to mind. All grandmothers have special
scents about them that one can remember. The
first scent that the speaker evokes, that of soap, is
a personal smell. The second, of the onion, is more
communal, as in the smell of dinner cooking. The
third is more universal—the smell of wet earth.
Almost anyone living in this world has a sense of
what wet earth smells like.
In the third line of the second stanza, the
speaker remembers the feel of her grandmothers’
hands. In the fourth line, the grandmothers are
remembered from the sounds they made, the
words they chose, which were pleasant. After
describing her grandmothers in this second stanza
through the senses of smell, touch, and sound, the
speaker repeats the phrase about how strong her
grandmothers are. Then, in the last line of the
poem, the speaker presents a question, one that in
a way sums up her feelings for her grandmothers.
Having shared in several of the speaker’s memories
of these women, readers sense her love and pride
for her grandmothers. She looks up to them to
the point that they make her feel small in com-
parison. It is almost as if the speaker is repri-
manding herself. How could she ever complain
about her life when her situation is so much
easier? Why has she been made privileged to
have this better life? Readers can even take this
question one step further. The speaker might
end the poem with this question to suggest that
future generations of women, when they look
back at the speaker’s time, might also be moved
to remind themselves not to complain.
Themes
Memory and History
A sense of history is pervasive in Walker’s poem
‘‘Lineage.’’ Even the title evokes the past. The
speaker of the poem is remembering people she
has known as well as imagining those too far
back for her to have met. Thus, she is speaking
to her own personal history. Of those with whom
she is familiar, the speaker recalls their scents of
food and soap. She remembers touching their
hands. She remembers how they talked. Some-
times when they spoke to her, they told her sto-
ries. It is through these stories that she has heard
about her ancestors who were gone before she
was born.
Walker’s poem recalls times of hardship,
times much more difficult than her own. It is in
remembering this history that Walker appreci-
ates how much stronger her grandmothers were
than are the women of her own time. Without
saying so in her poem, Walker insinuates that in
grasping the history of her ancestors, she has
gained a better perspective on whatever she is
going through.Human Potential
A theme that functions as a subtle undertone in
this poem is the potential of human beings to rise
above their situations. Walker writes about her
grandmothers, including her great-grandmothers
and on back into history. Some of her antebellum
ancestors were presumably slaves, as indicated
by her portrayal of their work, and yet Walker
imbues them with the strength to carry on with-
out complaining. She has them smelling of soap,
not sweat, which implies that despite their con-
dition, the women took pride in themselves. On
one level, the grandmothers in this poem believe
in physical cleanliness. On another level, cleanli-
ness can represent a purity of thought, which
the poet suggests when she mentions the grand-
mothers’ clean language. They do not curse or
bemoan their situation.
Walker evokes grandmothers who were deter-
minedtostayintouchwiththeirownpotential
and resist feeling sorry for themselves or feeling
less pride in themselves because they were captive
slaves. Even for the generations of black women
who were not slaves but still experienced harsh
prejudice and discrimination, the poet implies
that these women remained strong. People who
discriminate against others tend to make them the
target of insults and other degradations. These
grandmothers, the poet suggests, did not succumb
to any insults. They were defiant against them and
would not surrender what they knew to be their
potential selves.Lineage