"Marks" by Linda Pastan

Linda Pastan was born in 1932 and is still alive today. From 1991 to 1995 she was the Poet Laureate of Maryland. Her poems address a diverse range of topics, including family life, motherhood, aging, and loss.

In "Marks", Linda Pastan uses the metaphor of school grading systems to illustrate how people, especially parents, are harmed by the human tendency to judge others. The poem describes the methods that the speaker's family uses to judge her as a mother, describing each judgement method like a grading system. As is the case with many students who are faced with grading systems, the speaker is frustrated, especially considering that she faces three separate grading systems, which shows that the speaker has to deal with completely different expectations from everyone who is dependent on her. The speaker's frustration is made clear in the last line, where, continuing with the metaphor, the speaker says that she is "dropping out". The attitude of the speaker in this poem towards her family duties contrasts with the ideal attitude mothers are supposed to have. Due to the pressure of multiple expectations and constant judgement, the speaker looks at her tasks just like how a student looks at homework, namely as something which must be avoided as much as possible. Parents such as the one described in this poem are particularly faced with constant judgement, but all people have to face nearly constant judgement in today's society. From formal tests such as school tests and job assessments to the unofficial tests in the brains of everyone around us, we all face pressure caused by judgement, even if we are less aware of it than the speaker of this poem.