LitCharts My Grandmother S House
LitCharts My Grandmother S House
LitCharts My Grandmother S House
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My Grandmother's House
The speaker’s longing to return to her grandmother’s house,
SUMMARY meanwhile, reflects her desire to experience unconditional love
again. “How often I think of going / There,” the speaker says of
The speaker begins by remembering a long-lost house in which
the abandoned house. Of course, the poem implies that such a
she felt loved. The speaker's grandmother (who lived there)
return isn’t possible; the speaker is all grown up, and this
died, and after her death, the house fell silent. Snakes slithered
house—and the love and care it represents—are firmly in the
between the books. At this time, the speaker was still a child
past. Not only has the speaker traveled “far” from her childhood
and couldn't read yet. When her grandmother died, the speaker
home (and the love she experienced there), but that home itself
felt as if her blood had turned as cold as the moon. The speaker
no longer exists as it once did; the place where she “received
often dreams of going back to the house and squinting through
love” has become cold and threatening, full of “snakes” and
its empty windows or listening to the cold, lifeless air. She
“darkness.”
imagines that, in a moment of deep anguish, she might scoop up
some of the house's gloom in her arms and take it home to keep And yet, the speaker seems almost comforted by the thought of
in her bedroom, where it would lie around like a moping dog. taking some of that darkness home with her “to lie / Behind
Addressing a loved one she calls her "darling," the speaker says [her] bedroom door like a brooding / Dog.” By comparing the
they couldn't possibly believe she once lived in a house where darkness to a dog, the poem implies that the thought of the
she was happy, proud, and cared for. She says she has grandmother's house still calls to mind the love and devotion
wandered off course now; she spends her time trying to gather the speaker experienced when she was young. Those memories
crumbs of love from strangers. might be tinged with darkness, but they seem to be all she has.
The caesurae in these instances mark the moment when the There is a house now far away where once
speaker moves from reflecting on her grief to discussing its I received love... That woman died,
effects in her later life (and on her relationships!).
The first line, which is enjambed, starts out sounding a bit like a
Where Caesur
Caesuraa appears in the poem: fairy tale, inviting the reader into the speaker's story. But once
the speaker gets to the second line, it becomes clear that the
story is a tragic one; the end-stop after "died" emphasizes that
VOCABULARY SETTING
Withdrew (Line 3) - Pulled back, moved away.
The poem's setting is unspecific: the speaker merely describes
Peer (Line 7) - To try to see something difficult to make out. her grandmother's house as "far away." (Readers familiar with
Brooding (Lines 11-12) - Moping; sad and serious. Das's life story, however, might guess that this autobiographical
poem is set in Kerala, the region of India where Das grew up.)
In small change (Line 16) - The speaker is essentially saying
This house was clearly once a place of warmth and love. But
that they are only hoping for a little bit of love.
after the speaker's grandmother died, it fell into ruins, haunted
by "snakes" and "frozen" silences.
FORM, METER, & RHYME The idea that the house is "far away" might thus suggest that
the speaker's happy times in this house feel remote in time as
FORM well as space. Far from the unconditional love of her childhood,
The poem consists of a single 16-line stanza of free vverse
erse, with the speaker feels as if she has "lost [her] way" in life.
no rh
rhyme
yme scheme or regular meter
meter. Most of the lines are
enjambed
enjambed, creating a steady flow of thought with few pauses.
This seamless, uninterrupted shape subtly emphasizes how
CONTEXT
constant and all-consuming the speaker's loneliness is. Since
LITERARY CONTEXT
her grandmother's long-ago death, some part of her has always
felt utterly cold, distant, and alone, "like the moon." Kamala Das (1934-2009) was born into a family of writers. Her
father, V.M. Nair, was the editor of a daily newspaper; her
METER mother, Nalapat Balamani Amma
Amma, was a prominent poet; and
This poem is written in free vverse
erse, so it uses no consistent her great uncle, Nalapat Nar
Naraayana Menon
Menon, was a well-known
meter
meter. The lack of a regular rhythm here makes the speaker's poet, playwright, and translator. While Das wrote short stories
voice sound thoughtful, intimate, and natural; it's as if readers and novels in both Malayalam and English, she chose to write
are listening in on her thoughts as she mourns her long-lost and publish her poetry exclusively in English. Her frank style
childhood. and intimate subject matter influenced the course of Indian