I Was My Route

Julia de Burgos, a writer from Carolina, wrote the poem "I Was My Own Route." Puerto Rico, who documented the experiences of a literary writer, journalist, and independence warrior. Her poetry is rich in racial and gender attitudes, and she advocates for equality between men and women, as well as between black and white races. She is also recognized as a contemporary Latino writer who exposes how women are plagued by patriarchal ideals from the past. As a result, de Burgos encourages women to break free from the past to redefine their own identities.

The poem 'I Was My Own Route' comprises six stanzas. Each verse portrays the poet's tremendous feelings, which are constantly torn between masculinity and femininity. She opens her poetry by reflecting on her previous feelings of wanting to conform to the wishes of men. In such deeds, she has discovered a hide-and-seek game between her instinct and the instinct of patriarchal society. The same game prompted her to pursue a new route that is completely fresh to everyone. She gladly accepted the challenge, despite its difficulty.

She travels alone to find inner peace and a sense of intimacy while searching for a new path. She has brilliantly articulated her journey to a new path, during which she struggled to balance herself with the realities of the time. However, despite her reservations about its future, she expresses her excitement at discovering a new path in her life that has no past. Anyway, she is content to live in the present moment and await the passage of time. To demonstrate this, she has repeated a line from the poem. "a game of hide and seek with my being but l was made of nows". This refrain captures the core of the poem. The poem is free verse and an excellent example of poetry for the marginalized community.

Some Important Questions

1. What does the speaker mean when she says she was playing a game of hide and seek with her being’?

ans: The line "she was playing a game of hide and seek with her being" comes in the third line of the first stanza and is also repeated in the last stanza. Hide and seek is a children's game in which one person is blindfolded, while other players hide in various locations, and the blindfold is unfolded, allowing him or her to locate the other hiding places. A game of hide and seek is also used as an idiom to describe a scenario in which one person is constantly escaping or partially avoiding the other. In the poem, the line "a game of hide and seek with my being" indicates that the speaker is attempting to dodge the rules and constraints imposed by men on women. Men wanted her to be a lady defined by them, but as a modern and rebellious human, she avoided men.

2. Why does the speaker prefer the present to the past?

ans: The speaker prefers the present over the past because her previous circumstances were awful. She was one of the victims of male dominance. Her familial background was not ideal. Even one of her siblings perished from starvation. She lived in the shadow of a male-dominated world. However, in the present, she has become an iconic figure, a trailblazer, and a rescuer of the female race. She has paved the way for all women who can freely pursue their own identities. She is proud of herself and deserves the recognition.

3. John Donne, in his poem “No Man is an Island”, says, “No man is an island entire of itself.” Would Burgos agree with Donne? Do you agree with Donne or Burgos?

ans: John Donne (1572-1631) is an English poet who is regarded as the outstanding exemplar of metaphysical poetry. He is well known for his quotations. The statement "Noman is an island entire to itself" comes from his poetry "Noman is an island," and it signifies that no one is truly self-sufficient. Everyone needs the company and comfort of others to thrive. Donne believes in coexistence. Each man is a member of the entire population. All humans are equally important members of the collective community of humanity. We must value and respect every life. It is believed that "a man and a woman are two wheels of a cart". If one of the cart's wheels breaks, it cannot continue forward. Burgos wants to avoid male existence to liberate women. Males and females are equal, and their coexistence maintains societal equilibrium. Her proposal is impossible in practice; it is only a means for her to display her racial bias against men.