17 pages • 34 minutes read
Joy HarjoA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The kitchen table is the poem’s central symbol and extended metaphor. In poetry, symbolism is a literary device in which an event, action, or object (such as a table) represents an idea (like ceremony and ritual). The table is a convenient symbol because, even on a literal level, it’s a place where people gather to eat, build community, and share important life moments. While the table begins in Lines 1-3 as a place to simply eat and prepare food, it quickly expands into a symbol beyond its literal function. The table’s symbolism extends into the ceremony of teaching the next generation (“It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human” [Line 4]). Throughout the poem, the table repeatedly becomes a place of ceremony and ritual, representing iconic life moments. More than a place to eat and drink, the table becomes a place of protection (“a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun” [Line 7]) and even a place of battle and resolution (“Wars have begun and ended at this table” [Line 8]).
Ultimately, the table grows and ages with the characters in the poem. By the latter half of “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” the table represents the cycles of life (“We make men at it, we make women” [Line 4]).
By Joy Harjo
An American Sunrise
Joy Harjo
Crazy Brave: A Memoir
Joy Harjo
For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet
Joy Harjo
Remember
Joy Harjo
She Had Some Horses
Joy Harjo
This Morning I Pray for My Enemies
Joy Harjo
When the World as We Knew It Ended
Joy Harjo
Childhood & Youth
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Grief
View Collection
Indigenous People's Literature
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Poetry: Family & Home
View Collection
Short Poems
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection
War
View Collection