My Grandmother’s House
Introduction
The poem My Grandmother’s House is written by Kamala. The poem has been written in the memory of her grandmother, with whom she had spent her childhood.
The poetess considers those moments to be the best moments of her life and desires to get them. She also mourns their loss. Like her poem An Introduction, this poem also falls into the category of confessional poetry.
Reminiscence
At the beginning of the poem, the poetess says that there is a home that is now very far from her, where she received love. It was the house of her grandmother in which she spent the days of her childhood. She recalls her by saying :
"There is a house now far away where once
I received love……. That woman died,"
However, that woman, (her grandmother) is dead now and the home “withdrew in silence” is without any life because her grandmother was the very soul of it. She says :
"The house withdrew into silence,"
Grandmother also had books which she could not read as she was quite young, and she would read stories for her (poet). But now the snakes are moving in those books, "snakes moved Among books". All these things made the house quite horrible and the poet “like the moon” quite unhappy. She is now without any life and warmth. She admits :
"I was then too young
To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon"
Desire
The poet expresses her desire to go to her grandmother’s house because she is emotionally attached to it since her childhood. She wants to look through the “blind eyes of windows” of her grandmother’s house. So, she points:
"How often I think of going
There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or
Just listen to the frozen air",
The term “blind eyes of windows” means that there is no one (in other words, her grandmother) in the house to look for. She also desires to listen to “the frozen air” of that house. “Frozen Air” probably means that the house is locked, and the fresh air has not moved in:
"Just listen to the frozen air",
In my views, the poet desires to move into her thoughts which are buried deep inside her heart and no air has blown into it. Thus, the grandmother’s house here is rather a sweet memory that she wants to recall.
The poet further says that she wants to bring the darkness of her grandmother’s house with her “in wild despair” in her troubled life:
The line makes it clear that her grandmother was very protective. And now that she feels insecure, even the darkness of her grandmother’s house, which is though unpleasant like a cold moon, comforts her.
"Or in wild despair, pick an armful of
Darkness to bring it here to lie"
Begging for Love
In the final lines, the poet is in conversation, probably with her husband or her readers. The poet says that one won’t believe that she had some of the best memories of her grandmother’s house, and she is quite proud of it:
"Behind my bedroom door like a brooding
Dog…you cannot believe, darling,
Can you, that I lived in such a house and
Was proud, and loved…."
Now that she has lost her grandmother, she begs at strangers’ doors for love. She knows well that she won’t be able to get that much love, but she still hopes for at least a part of it:
" I who have lost
My way and beg now at strangers' doors to
Receive love, at least in small change"
Hence, the poet ends with hope and despair. In her poem, My Mother at Sixty-Six, the poetess is struggling with similar feelings.
The previous part of these articles is already written. Their link is below:
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