For example, “The house had a dozen bedrooms, each of them cold and the wind battered the windows…” Again the poet is telling us about the house, not his opinion of the house. There is never a line in the poem in which the poet states that he thought the house was gloomy or that he hated living there.
The poet uses alliteration to make this poem effective. Alliteration gives the poem more meaning and makes it more interesting. An example of this is in the first line, “The house had a dozen bedrooms…” .
The alliteration that is used throughout the poem however is unique. The sounds that are used are harsh sounds such as ‘h’ and ‘b’ and ‘c’. These sounds are normally used when talking about death and gloom. These sounds also contribute in a major way to the overall tone of the poem.
The tone of the poem is extremely important because it communicates the exact mood of the poem to the reader. This poem obviously has a very gloomy and sad tone. We know this by looking the sounds that are used, the rhyme scheme and the diction.
There is no rhyme scheme for this poem. This helps to bring out the gloomy tone that the poet is trying to achieve. If there were a rhyme scheme then the poem would sound more bright and rhythmic which would spoil the overall tone of the poem.
The diction is the choice of words in a poem. The poet has chosen and interesting choice of words. They are all concerning death and gloom. These play a major role in the overall tone of the poem. Without these words there would hardly be a tone. Such words include ghost, corpses, murder and other vile things.
However, the last two lines of the poem contradict everything that was said previously. The very first word of the second last line is ‘but’. The word ‘but’ is always used every time something is to be contradicted. The last two lines are “But it did have a piano upstairs. And I did grow up there.”
Throughout the whole poem the poet has been describing the house as a creepy and eerie. However, the last two lines tell us that there was a piano upstairs and he did grow up there. Pianos are normally used as a symbol of happiness and memory. This is why the last two lines are in a way contradicting what was said in the beginning. However, this is only contradictory for the reader. Not for the poet. This is because the poet never told us his opinion of the house in the first place and by the end of the poem, still did not.
In conclusion, Matthew Sweeney uses many techniques in order to make this poem effective and different from any normal poem. This is because he uses a specific tone, alliteration and a good choice of diction.
