How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
My head gripped in bony vise
of knees, the writhing struggle
to wrench free, the blows, the fear
worse than blows that hateful (13-16)
This is hands-down the most vivid depiction of violence in the entire poem. "Gripped," "vise," "writhing struggle," "blows," and "blows"—it's as if the rhetoric is laid on pretty thick to make sure we get the message that this is a very, very traumatic memory.
Quote #5
Words could bring, the face that I
no longer knew or loved (17-18)
Violence makes monsters out of people we thought we knew, and people we used to love. That is what is happens here, and this may be why the relationship between the woman and the boy isn't described in any detail. Violence destroys relationships.
Quote #6
avenged in part for lifelong hidings
she has had to bear. (23-24)
"The Whipping" is a poem about violence and about violence as a way of getting revenge. And strangely, it seems to work. The woman is mad about things she's hidden, or about having to hide them, so she beats the boy really bad and is "avenged in part." Okay, hold on—is she actually avenged, or does she just think she is? Hmm.