Need help with "Daystar" by Rita Dove

[fellowcoco]

Hello everyone!

I'm reading Rita Dove's poem "Daystar" which discusses the roles taken up by a nameless woman as a mother and a wife.

I've had some problems figuring out why the title of this poem is "Daystar"? Does it mean the sun? Can anyone enlighten me as to how this title relate to theme of the poem?

Thank you very much!



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daystar

She wanted a little room for thinking:
but she saw diapers steaming
on the line,


A doll slumped behind the door.
So she lugged a chair behind
the garage to sit out the
children's naps

Sometimes there were things to watch--
the pinched armor of a vanished cricket,
a floating maple leaf.

Other days she stared until she
was assured when she closed
her eyes she'd only see her own
vivid blood.

She had an hour, at best,
before Liza appeared pouting from
the top of the stairs.

And just what was mother doing
out back with the field mice?
Why, building a palace.

Later that night when Thomas
rolled over and lurched into her,
She would open her eyes
and think of the place that was hers
for an hour--where she was nothing,
pure nothing, in the middle of the day

[lalalauren]

I'm not familiar with this poet or the poem, but from my reading of it I understand "Daystar" to be referring to the woman's hour break behind the garage while her children are napping. That hour while her children are asleep and before she must give her attention to her husband in the evening is her moment to shine...when it's all about her, like a ruler in his/her palace. Also, I think the star part of the title refers to how that moment of the day is a light in the darkness that is her overwhelming/draining life as a mother and wife.

[hillwalker]

This was also a first-time read for me.

My thoughts regarding the title is that it might refer to her as being a star - a guiding light to all that revolves about her - but, of course, no one really notices the vital role she plays.
She is just like any other star in the daytime - they are still there in the sky but we don't notice them because they have become invisible due to the sunlight.
She feels the work she does is not appreciated because no one notices her most of the time.