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I was my Own Route, composed by Julia de Burgos, is a poem
that shows how women are burdened with patriarchal ideologies from the past.
In this poem, the speaker urges the women to detach themselves from the past
to locate their identity within. This poem is taken from the Class 12 English
textbook. The following summary, analysis, and exercise will help the readers
understand the text. For the readers’ convenience, the original poem, I was
my Own Route, by Julia de Burgos, has also been mentioned.
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I Was My Own Route [Summary,
questions answer, and analysis]
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Short summary [I was my Own Route]
A pioneer among contemporary Latina/o writers, de Burgos,
in her poem "I was my Own Route," shows how women are troubled with
the patriarchal beliefs from the past. Therefore, de Burgos urges the women
to separate themselves from the past to trace their identity within. In
short, I Was My Own Route by Julia de Burgos is a poem about freedom and
self-sufficiency.
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About the writer Julia de Burgos
Julia de Burgos was a Puerto Rican poet and political
activist. She was also a key figure in both the Latino and feminist literary
movements. Due to her vast body of work, she is considered one of Puerto
Rico’s national treasures.
She is often referred to as La Poetisa del Pueblo (The
People’s Poet). She has often been compared to Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo
Neruda in terms of their prolific output, political activism, and
internationalism. Her most famous works include Desolación (1933), El alma
llanera (1935), Sobre el hombro de la Mujer Negra (1940), and Tengo (1960).
Her poems are known for being extremely socially conscious, particularly
those that were written during World War II. This was an era when many Latin
American intellectuals were heavily involved in left-wing politics.
Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Julia de Burgos (1914-1953)
moved to New York, where she worked as a journalist, and then Cuba, where she
pursued further studies at the University of Havana. Returning to New York
after two years in Cuba, de Burgos, a freedom fighter, served as the art and
culture editor for the progressive newspaper Pueblos Hispanos. Predating the
Nuyorican poetry movement, de Burgos’ poems deal with themes of women’s
liberation and social justice.
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Analysis of I Was My Own Route
I Was My Own Route, more commonly known as I Was My Own
Woman in English, is a memoir written by Julia de Burgos in 1947 and
published in New York City. The memoir covers the entirety of de Burgos’
life, including growing up poor with ten siblings in Puerto Rico during the
mid-20th century; moving to the U.S. to earn her doctorate in Latin American
Literature at Columbia University; and later spending most of her life in New
York City as she became one of the leading voices within Puerto Rican
literature, feminism, and social activism during her time.
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Complete summary of I was my Own
Route
The poem ‘I Was My Own Route" was written by the
feminist writer Julia de Burgos. As a feminist writer, her goal in the poem
is to challenge the systemic inequalities women face on a daily basis in a
patriarchal society. To achieve this very goal, Burgos encourages women to
detach themselves from the past to locate their identity within.
In a sense, the poem ‘I Was My Own Route’ is about the need
for freedom and liberation for women. Through the poem, Burgos suggests women
to search for new paths that allow women to define the exact way to follow
the choice of their own route. According to Burgos, searching for a new path
is possible only by rejecting the ideology of men that decide women’s
lives.
‘I Was My Own Route’ is based on the idea that women must
rebel against the social injustices that are targeted to dominate females.
Burgos begins the poem by recounting her own experience in a male-dominated
society. She tried to be the way men wanted her to be because she was curious
to see what the males wanted from her and how they would act being male.
But soon, she rejected to accept males’ concept of
superiority against females. Instead of accepting males’ dominating ideology
(males are superior to females), she dared to race with a male. And thus she
invented her own racing track (own path) to manage her journey instead of
following what she was supposed to follow as a customs or usual practices.
She mocks the male-created paths and chooses a new road that she wants.
While trying to challenge the patriarchal notion, the
speaker faces multiple obstacles to moving forward on the path she created.
However, she overcomes all those barriers with her strong determination.
Some traditionalists who are obsessed with patriarchal dogmatism grow desperate
as they see the speaker’s improving life and independence.
The speaker suffers a great deal trying to balance her life
to walk in her newly created path. She wishes to go farther and get all the
freedom that men have been enjoying. That way, she can experience various
levels of freedom and pleasure in life. In her new path, the speaker feels it
is easy to move. Also, she is intensely happy to experience intimate
liberation.
The speaker finds herself in a situation where there is no
history, future, edges, or anything else of the men’s world. There are
various limitations for men and women under patriarchal rigidity. Patriarchy
has set up multiple barriers for women and confined their freedom. However,
the speaker feels like a flower that can grow in any soil on this earth on
her new path. In her new route, she feels extremely happy because she blooms
just like a flower without men’s history and boundaries.
The speaker realizes the strength that comes with choosing
one’s own route.
The speaker, finally, compares her past situation with the
present. She reveals what she was like and what the males wanted her to be.
She states that she was everything in herself because she tried hard to be
who she wanted to be.
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The message of I was my Own Route
The author repeats that she was free to be herself, free to
think for herself, and free to create her own world. She felt like she could
do anything if she put her mind to it. The only thing holding her back from
being completely free was herself, but even then, it wasn’t really holding
her back because there were no limits on what she could do or how far she
could go.
She had everything under control in life because of how
independent and strong-willed she was. That’s why she didn’t need anyone else
in her life. Even though some people would say they need someone else to make
them happy, it isn’t true because all you need is yourself. You don’t need
anyone else to tell you who you are or what you should do with your life; you
know better than anyone else what makes you happy and fulfilled as a person.
If people try to push their opinions on you, ignore them
because they aren't worth your time anyway. They're just trying to bring you
down so they can feel better about themselves. People who try to bring others
down are weak and pathetic. They have nothing going for themselves, so they
have to tear other people down to feel good about themselves.
They're jealous of others' success, so they want everyone
else around them to fail as well, so it'll make them look better when
compared to those failures. Don't let these types of people bring you down!
Ignore their negativity and continue doing what makes you happy.
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Understanding the poem
Discuss the following questions.
a. Do you try to be like what others want you to be? Why?
Why not?
b. How can we achieve our identity?
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I was my Own Route by Julia de Burgos [Original Poem]
I wanted to be like men wanted me
to be:
an attempt at life;
a game of hide and seek with my
being.
But I was made of nows,
and my feet level on the promissory
earth
would not accept walking backwards
and went forward, forward,
mocking the ashes to reach the
kiss of new paths.
At each advancing step on my route
forward
my back was ripped by the desperate
flapping wings
of the old guard.
But the branch was unpinned
forever,
and at each new whiplash my look
separated more and more and more
from the distant
familiar horizons;
and my face took the expansion that
came from within,
the defined expression that hinted
at a feeling
of intimate liberation;
a feeling that surged
from the balance between my life
and the truth of the kiss of the
new paths.
Already my course now set in the
present,
I felt myself a blossom of all the
soils of the earth,
of the soils without history,
of the soils without a future,
of the soil always soil without
edges
of all the men and all the epochs.
And I was all in me as was life in
me .. . .
I wanted to be like men wanted me
to be:
an attempt at life;
a game of hide and seek with my
being.
But I was made of nows;
when the heralds announced me
at the regal parade of the old
guard,
the desire to follow men warped in
me,
and the homage was left waiting for
me.. . . . . . . . .
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Glossary [Word meaning of I was my
Own Route]
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promissory (adj.):
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containing or conveying a promise
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whiplash (n.):
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a blow with a whip
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epochs (n.):
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periods of time in history or a person’s life, especially
the ones marked by important events of special characteristics
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regal (adj.):
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of, like or fit for a king or queen; royal
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warped (adj.):
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twisted out of normal or natural shape; strange and unpleasant
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homage (n):
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things said or done to show great respect
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Question answer of I was my Own
Route
Answer the following questions.
a. Why did the speaker try to be the way men wanted her to
be?
b. What do you understand by her feet ‘would not accept
walking backwards’?
c. Who are the old guards? Why did they grow desperate?
d. How did the speaker have ‘a feeling of intimate
liberation’?
e. Why did the speaker’s desire to follow men warp in her?
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Reference to the context
a. What does the speaker mean when she says she was playing
a game of hide and seek with her being’?
b. Why, in your view, was her back ripped by the old guards
as she was advancing forward?
c. What, according to the speaker, did it feel like to be
free?
d. Why does the speaker prefer the present to the past?
e. 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?
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Reference beyond the text
a. Write an essay on My Idea of Freedom.
b. Not all people, however, seem to agree with the kind of
freedom upheld by Burgos in this poem. For example, William Faulkner, in his
novel Requiem for a Nun, says, ‘“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and
environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity.” Do you
agree with Faulkner? Why? Why not?
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