The Grandmother

• The Poem

• Title

  The title is a very literal one, it is almost like an epitaph (a commemoration of the passing of someone, usually something eulogetic) its literal. However a eulogy / epitaph is usually something praise worthy (fond by all), the persona doesn't necessarily have a memory of her grandmother.

• Storyline

  In line 8 we see "i was afraid" showing that he was fond of her. In the poem it is about relationships & what we choose to make important in our lives. The poem also becomes a Ballard (story in song) because the story is about a relationship between a grandmother & the poet. The reader is taken into the confidence of the persona (in line 19 - 20) he makes confessions when guilty and the reader becomes the confidant. The tone of the poem is serious, reflective & sincere because the persona is expressing his deepest feelings about the relationship between him and granny. Wee can infer / suggest that the poem becomes an effort to deal with the guilt. While we can read the poem as a beautiful language, we can read it as a means of understanding human nature / guilt because the poem is a confession and show of guilt.

• Analysis

  The 1st verse of stanza 1 informs us that the grandmother is attached to her antique objects, however she focuses all her attention upon taking care of her material things. In the 1st stanza we see appearances to this. The granny focused her love in the wrong place. In line 6, we see evidence that the granny herself not to even want the relationship that might yield love, because her attention were focused on her antiques only. The 1st stanza allows us to see granny's emphasis of what she cared about. She cares about her material, everything else comes second place.

  In stanza 2 the persona shows our attention to 1 incident. The use of the word 'wants' tell us that the interaction between granny & persona was very limited because we already know the person might have been afraid. In line 9, the persona accounts for the refusal. This means he did not want to be an object. The persona did not feel love, treated rather like an object, so he / she refused. In line 10 however, there is contrast like antique objects though she never said. While granny may have appeared to focus on all her attention on objects, in lines 10-12 we see she wanted to be loved because she felt hurt and lonely. The antiques could not return love. In line 12 the person could empathies how granny felt.

  In stanza 3 it brings us to the recognition that time has passed. This is called temporal movement / shift. We are not told how long but what has been told is that she has become old & frail, even though this, she still retains an attachment to the objects. She took all her best things and put it around her. We could say granny senses to not wan love and is extremely lonely that is why the persona reflected on it he felt guilt. In line 16, its metaphorical, from that phrase we understand no one visited granny. There was no one to give here reflection back. We can say either all objects grew dull or her children and or grandchildren did not visit her, that is your children become how you live on your mirror. Her children and grandchildren abandoned her.

  Lines 16 & 17 are highly metaphorical, they are also hyperbolic. This is a means of emphasis. Those lines emphasis isolation and loneliness. In stanza 4 the persona is in a confession mood & we become the confidant. There is an admission by the persona that there was no emotional connection between him and the grandmother, there is guilt but no grief. The guilt arises because of the hurt that was caused, in stanza 2 it states that perhaps the persona feels no grief because of the lack of an emotional connection or relationship with the grandmother. They lived more as strangers rather than relations.

  The ending of the poem shows us a sad realization that material things have no emotional satisfaction what so ever. It illustrates that all that remains now is dust falling from air, not love, or affection but dust that causes the material to become dull.

  The 1st stanza illustrated to us attention to detail while in the last line it shows neglect (contrast). The poem allows u to see the emptiness & the detachment as well as the loss of love and satisfaction that can occur when relationships are not maintained.

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