Language is then used to make the grandfather sound like the big horrible beast “his shape vultured against the door” then it describes him eating “he tore into his beef stew and mashed potatoes” it portrays him as the hungry beast. He is like a lion bellowing, “how dare you speak to me like that child” the grandfather is very angry with his granddaughter for stepping out of place.
‘My Grandmother’ is about a daughter who felt no grief when her grandmother died “only the guilt of what she once refused” because her grandmother was more interested in her shop and she only offered to take her daughter somewhere once.
Language is used to make the antique shop sound like a very boring place there is no love there only polish “polish was all, there was no need for love” It is very boring in there because and old stuff is all that is in there “the faded silks, the heavy furniture”.
It is also used to reflect the poet’s relationship with her grandmother it says, “she kept an antique shop-or it kept her” this shows that there is no love between them and that her grandmother is more interested in the shop than her granddaughter and this lack of understanding meant that when her grandmother died she felt no grief what so ever.
I am now going to look at how sound devices in “My Grandmother” the poet has done this to show how she didn’t feel any emotion when her grandmother died she has deliberately placed full stops in certain places to make the reader understand why she felt no sorrow when her grandmother died she only “felt guilty of what she once refused”. In stanza one sibilance is used “spoons”, “silks”, “salvers”, “silvers” these are very gentle sounding and create a sad atmosphere of melancholy, which the author does not feel. The poet has done this to make the reader feel the sorrow that she did not feel herself. In stanza “3” assonance has been used “narrow, room, too” this gives it a long droning sound making it sound very slow and boring as if the writer is uninterested in all the old things we realise that the author had no interest in any of the old things that her grandmother owned and that there is no emotion about her grandmothers death.
The structure of Child with a cause” also emphasises what Andrews relationship with her grandparents was like in 5 of its 6 stanzas Andrews uses the word I in the final line I think Andrews does this to show how she felt and to emphasise how she felt about what happened between her grandparents. The poet has done this so you can really understand how she felt and how angry she was and how much hate she had for her grandfather. I think the poet puts two questions the first one “how dare you child?” questioning her he feels the grandmother is in the wrong not him then he follows it up with “how dare you speak to me like that” which is the grandfather putting her back in her place.
In “My Grandmother” Jennings has used the structure of her poem to emphasise her relationship with her grandmother I think Jennings used a hyphen in the first line because it creates a negative image and makes the reader realise that it is the antique shop that controls the grandmother not the other way round. The antique shop controls the grandmother so strongly she only thought to ask if her daughter wanted to go somewhere once and the daughter refused “and I remembered how I once refused to go out with her” and she has structured it to show the only emotion she felt was guilt of what she once refused. The poet has put a full stop after line 2 in stanza 2 to make you stop and think about how she must of felt when she was only asked to go somewhere once and when her grandmother died she did not feel sad only the guilt of what she once refused her grandmother.
Rhythm and rhyme also show the reader how Andrews felt about her grandparents the rhythm in stanza 1 feels soft and gentle. The description flows in a warm and friendly way. This makes you feel happy and that the grandmother is really nice and that she really likes her granddaughter and the granddaughter feels the same way. But in stanzas 4and 5 the sentences appear shorter and harsher. The rhythm feels cold and edgy. You know that the granddaughter really hates her grandfather “picked clean by anger I ran” they both hat each other a lot and you really feel the bad feelings in the way the poem has been written.
Rhythm and rhyme is used in a similar way in “My Grandmother” to reflect the poets feelings the poet has used rhyme and half rhyme throughout the poem these rhymes create an almost audible image. The tinkle of “glass” and the visual image of shiny “brass”. Refused and used link one another audibly. It joins together thoughts not wanting to be joined but unable to resist. In stanza 4 the poet uses the words “there” and “air” to conclude the poem. There is hardly anything tangible to be heard or seen. The word “there” and “air” make you think of emptiness and silence. The words seem to bring about a silent end to her life and the stanza.
In “Child with a Cause” the grandmother is portrayed by the poet with love and affection. The poet cares greatly for the grandmother and wants to protect her from the grandfather. In “My Grandmother” she is not remembered with either love or affection. There seems to be no positive emotions. When the grandmother dies there is no sorrow only a small feeling of guilt. Both poems reveal feelings for their grandmothers “Child with a Cause” is positive and loving. In “My Grandmother”, the feelings are more negative, almost emotionless. The poems vary from one extreme to another, so much feeling in “Child with a Cause” but none whatsoever in “My Grandmother”. I felt really sorry for the child in “Child with a Cause” although she was able to stand up to her grandfather she could not protect her grandmother from the grandfather who was a bully. But at least the grandmother and child had each other. “My Grandmother”, seems such a sad poem. Here are two people for whatever reasons were unable to know each other or love each other. Maybe the poets are unfairly critical, maybe not. Memories of childhood are not always reliable. Everything seems white and black. Time can change how we think and feel. A positive or negative thought could be changed tomorrow or even in half an hour. Views we have as children can be altered by adult thoughts.
