OFFERINGS
The poem "Offerings" was written by Hilary Tham. It is about some love offerings made by two people to each other. The protagonist came three times to the beloved partner with floral and natural offerings, but he/she was always ignored. The fourth time he/she came with "cold and hard gravel", with the intention to punish the other. The latter offered her/him hybrid orchids, but they were refused and thus crushed them in despair.
Therefore, the poem describes the stages of an unrequited love. Probably, the speaker-protagonist is a female character, because of her sentimental behaviour, while the second person is a male. Despite her several attempts, the man remains careless, disrespectful, unappreciative of the woman's offerings. The generic title itself "Offerings" implies the indifference with which he receives them. Only in the end he regrets ignoring her and offered her "hybrid orchids", which were refused. However, the hybrid orchids symbolize an artificial love or a sense of respect rather than true feelings.
The poem is arranged into three quatrains and one final five-lined stanza. The poet resorts to a repetitive structure and syntax to underline the perseverance of the woman. Every first line of the quatrains describes the protagonist's approach to the partner; the second lines deal with the kind the offering; the third associate a feeling expressed by a gerund or a participle with a part of the protagonist's body, while the fourth (or the fifth) narrate the reaction of the partner.
Besides, the poet exploits also an ascending climax of desperation which culminates in the last stanza. The woman is described first as happy, then ardent, uncertain and finally bitter, and approaches to the other person with higher and higher intensity of feelings (I came... I danced... I crept... I strode...). Furthermore, the succession of the parts of the day conveys the idea of sequence and persistency.