19 pages • 38 minutes read
Naomi Shihab NyeThe Words Under the Words
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Seeds
Seeds are traditionally symbols of the continuation of life. When the speaker says “fly away like seeds in a deep sky” (Line 24), it recalls the way dandelion seeds or seeds from a tree fly on the wind. Although the seeds are flying away from the speaker, this is not a tragedy but rather a natural part of the life cycle. The speaker has faith the seeds “will plant themselves” (Line 25). This demonstrates the speaker’s connection to nature, not only in terms of the natural world but also in terms of the nature of life and human interaction. Parents may want their children to stay near to them, but it is part of nature to spread seeds on the wind. This is also a metaphor for faith. Even though the grandmother only sees the seeds disappearing into a “deep sky” (Line 24), she must have faith that they will find their way to a ground where they can “plant” (Line 25) themselves.
Pocket Full of Stones
The poem ends with a quote, “Answer, if you hear the words under the words—” (Line 31), which is the title of the poem. The quote continues, “otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges, / difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones” (Line 32-33). In contrast to the seeds, the speaker poses an alternative situation in which the grandmother’s pockets would be “full of stones” (Line 31). In contrast to seeds, stones are heavy, and they do not grow but rather weigh you down. To go through life with “pockets full of stones” (Line 31) is to be burdened with extra weight. “Stones” (Line 31) also carry the connotation of graveyards with headstones. It mirrors the world with “rough edges” (Line 30). This metaphor suggests that if you do not have faith, if you do not hear the “words under the words” (Line 31), you cannot move easily through life because you are weighed down with the heavy feelings that can otherwise be alleviated by faith.
Words and “Words Under the Words”
Words are symbols. Letters added together represent ideas both abstract and concrete. In terms of religious texts, the word “Word” (Line 30) takes on greater significance. Religious texts claim to be the word of God. Each “word” is also the name of something. When the speaker says that “He is her first thought. What she really thinks of is His name” (Line 29). She is referring to the name of God. God is a large concept. It is hard to represent with a single image or word. The term “His name” (Line 29) is a symbol for the much larger concept of “God” that the mere word “Allah” cannot contain. The “words under the words” (Line 31) are a symbol for the concept of God that lies underneath all of the physical phenomena of the visible world, the sound under all other sounds. When the grandmother is thinking of the “orchard and new olive press” (Line 27), she is really thinking about Allah, who is underneath the orchard and olive press by creating the orchard and olive press. “The words under the words” (Line 31) is another way of saying the concept of God.
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By Naomi Shihab Nye
