Examining three poems which concern the poet's response to the death of a close relative.

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Ibrahim Hussain 9.3

I am examining three poems which concern the poet’s response to the death of a close relative. It is very difficult and emotional for a child to come to turns with a death of a relative which you have known most of your life. The first poem is about a girl who loses her grandmother and feels guilty. The second poem is about a boy who loses his father which is the closest family to him. The third poem is about a boy whose brother gets hit by a car and dies. The themes the poets have chosen to write about are guilt and grief. The reasons why many poets choose to write about this subject are mainly because it is a way to tell people what has happened, also to share the experience and to get it off their backs. People read these types of poems because it may have happened to them.

The first poem I am examining is “my grandmother”. The poem is structured into four stanzas which are six lines each. The first stanza of the poem describes the shop and the grandmother in great detail so we can have an image in our mind of what the grandmother and the shop are like. The poet also uses enjambment which is used in lines four and five. Enjambment is used to make the poem more natural and realistic. The rhythm of the poem is the pentameter which is 5 beats. The poet gives us the effect that someone is actually discussing the experience.

it says in the first stanza” she kept an antique shop or it kept her among the apostle spoons and Bristol glass, the faded silk, the heavy furniture”. The meaning of this section was that she was obsessed with her antique shop and it was as if it gave her a purpose to live and that it kept her going in life, also this was how she earned her living. The poet also gives four examples of items for sale in the antique shop. The poet says this to bring the shop alive, to give us an image in our mind. It also says “she watched her own reflection on the brass. Salves and silver bowls, as if to prove polish was all, there was no need of love”. The meaning of this is that she was conceited, also she feels almost as if she does not exist. She feels she has no reason to live apart from the shop and that everyone just see her as the antique shop owner.

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The poet took a great deal of time to write about her grandmother’s death, although the poem is about the grandmother it is also about the girls emotions. The poet does not feel grief but feels guilt for not loving her grandmother and for not treating her right. In the second stanza it says “she wished not to be used like an antique object”, the poet felt like her grandmother just wanted to show her off and that she paid more attention to her shop then her. It says “thought she never said that she was hurt, I still ...

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