Graveyard Blues

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2006

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Poem Analysis

Themes

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

“Housekeeping” by Natasha Trethewey (2000)

Published in Trethewey’s first collection, Domestic Work (2000), “Housekeeping” depicts the relationship between mother and child as they struggle without much money, preserving and saving items in their daily life. This poem provides contrast to “Graveyard Blues,” both structurally and thematically, and depicts the challenges and joys of maintaining a household on little income.

“Imperatives for Carrying On in the Aftermath” by Natasha Trethewey (2018)

Published many years following her mother’s death, “Imperatives for Carrying On in the Aftermath” provides a point of comparison to “Graveyard Blues” as both deal with her mother’s death, coping, and the aftermath of such a harrowing incident. This poem, while far less restrained than “Graveyard Blues,” depicts how such a traumatic event continues to challenge and shape Trethewey as a poet and a human.

“No More Cake Here” by Natalie Diaz (2012)

Natalie Diaz, a contemporary voice to Natasha Trethewey, wrote “No More Cake Here” following the death of her brother to meth addiction. Both poets and poems grapple with the unexpected loss of a close loved one. Also working in the form of elegy, “No More Cake Here” is a contrast to “Graveyard Blues” in structure and tone, and it is an example of how another contemporary poet handles loss in poetic form.

Further Literary Resources

“Jake Adam York Interviews Natasha Trethewey” Southern Spaces (2010)

In this brief interview, Trethewey talks specifically about her use of the blues form in “Graveyard Blues,” commenting on the variations of the second line of each tercet and how this variation occurs, too, in blues music. Trethewey also comments on how slightly shifting an established pattern in structured poems can offer deeper insights into the poem’s meaning and message–as is the case in “Graveyard Blues.”

Conversations with Natasha Trethewey by Joan Wylie Hall (2013)

In this book-length work, Hall compiles several interviews with Trethewey that touch on the artistic and biographical roots of her work. This book shares relevant perspective on what drives Trethewey poetically, and shares essential biographical insight into understanding her as a poet and a human.

“After Years of ‘Willed Amnesia,’ Trethewey Opens Up About Her Murdered Mother” NPR.org. (2020)

Understanding the background of Trethewey’s personal life and her mother’s murder and death is essential to understanding “Graveyard Blues.” This lengthy interview with Terry Gross for NPR, in which Trethewey shares how her mother’s death has influenced and shaped her over the years, delves into the psyche of grief, coping, and acceptance.