Jeffrey Pethybridge’s Striven, the Bright Treatise contains both grief and the process of looking back on memories to help him mourn his brother’s death. In my opinion, grief is definitely the emotion that is mostly evident in this work, but there are glimpses of happiness as he looks back on memories he and his brother shared.
The poem that shows this the most is located on page 97 of the book. Basically, the overview of this poem is Pethybridge’s memory of when he and his brother were in a hotel and enjoying the Spring weather. This is shown as the Pethybridge writes, “The April window will/be open or, the breeze/… the hotel curtain” (1-5). This moment sets up the scene of how Pethybridge delves into a moment where he and his brother enjoyed their fun times together. He does this by talking of how they had high expectations that the month of April is the best time of year because there weren’t any tourists and they can enjoy the scenery with no distractions. Pethybridge illustrates this as he says, “we’ll joke that this time/ of year is best, since the tourists/aren’t there yet, & we’ll take/that bottle of sherry/ for the chill after swimming” (6-10). Here, it is evident that the memories are forever lasting to Pethybridge, especially since they are the only two involved which makes the moment that much more intimate. The last line of the poem brings together the nature of Pethybridge and his brother’s relationship. The last line reads, “wit sun tide” (12) which is a exaggerated spelling of the traditional Whitsun which is a Christian Festival with parades and such after the seventh Sunday after Easter (Wikipedia). By Pethybridge acknowledging their relationship in this way, it shows that he and his brother had fun times and also cherished the vernacular.
Pethybridge, Jeffrey. Striven, the Bright Treatise. Las Cruces, NM: Noemi, 2013. 97. Print.
“Whitsun.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.