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Read the poem bellow and answer the question that follows My grandmother

She kept an antique shop-or it kept her.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glasses,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture,
She watched her own reflection in the brass
Salvers and silver bowls, as if to prove
Polish was all, there was no need for love.

And I remember how I once refused
To go out with her, since I was afraid.
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
Like antique objects .Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.

Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put
All her best things in one long, narrow room.
The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut,
The smell of absences where shadows come
That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
To give her own reflection back again.

And when she died I felt no grief at all,
Only the guilt of what I once refused.
I walked into her room among the tall
Sideboards and cupboards-things she never used
But needed: and no finger-marks were there,
Only the new dust falling through the air.

a) Identify the persona in the above poem.

b) In note form, summarize what each stanza is talking about

c) Identify and briefly explain the use of any two images in the poem

d) What does the persona feel towards the subject matter?

e) What do the following lines mean in the poem?

'too frail to keep a shop'
'Only the new dust falling through the air'
f) Describe the tone the persona uses in the poem above

g) Explain the paradox in the line:

-things she never used

But needed:

h) Explain the persona’s sense of guilt

Answers

Martin
a) The persona is a grandchildv 'My grandmother'
b) -Stanza 1: describers her grandmother

-Stanza 2: describes the incidence which course guilt

-Stanza 3: shows her grandmother in retirement

-Stanza 3: after her grandmother has died, the poet reflect on her grandmother’s life and her own memories

c) Images used include:

-Simile- like antique objects, to show persona’s objection to the way he was treated by the grandmother

-Metaphor-The smells of absences
; the place smelt old

d) The persona feels indifferent towards his grandmother. “and when she died I felt no grief at all

e) Too old to look after the shop
- Symbolic of her death and absence

f) The persona uses a regretful tone. He said I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt

g) It means that the grandmother was attached to the things she had but she didn’t really use them.
They did not have any value to her apart from being attached to them.

h) The persona feels guilt for having failed to accompany his/her grandmother out vbecause he/she didn’t want to be used as one of the antique item.
marto answered the question on May 6, 2019 at 06:10

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