Critical appreciation of the poem ‘My Grandmother’s House’

The poem ‘My Grandmother’s House’ was written by kamala Surayya, was an English poet and a leading Malayalam author from Kerala. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography. The poem is a reminiscence of the poet’s grandmother and their ancestral home at Malabar in Kerala.  

Her fond memories of her grandmother and the love she received from her are associated with the image of her ancestral home where she had spent the happiest days of her life.  With the death of the Grandmother, her life that was filled only with emotions becomes numb. Her veins thus become cold rather than warm. It is as cold as the moon, the moon being an emblem of love. The worms on the books seem like snakes at that moment. Now the poet is in another city. She is heartbroken and longs to go back to her childhood days. She wants to peer through the blind eyes of windows which have been dead shut for years or just wanted to listen to the frozen air. She desires to pick a handful of darkness (sad and painful memories) from the ancestral home and wants to keep it near her bed room like a brooding dog. She thinks it will give her some relief from her present depressed state. She feels a void in her mind because she doesn’t get any love from anywhere. She had an unhappy married life. So she begs for love from door to door.

The poet uses many poetic devices in this poem. We can see poetic devices like simile, metaphor, personification, and irony(the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect)etc .we can also see many images in the poem. There are two instances of simile you can in the poem

·        ‘My blood turned like the moon’

·        ‘ Darkness to bring it here to lie

      ‘behind my bedroom door like a brooding dog’

Examples of personification are

·        Pick an armful of darkness (attribute human quality to darkness)

·        Like a brooding dog (attribute darkness, the quality of a brooding dog)

·        Blind eyes of the windows ( attributed human quality of blindness to inhuman object window)

Examples of images are,

Blood turned like moon,Frozen air- tactile images

Snake moved among books-visual image

Peer through the blind eyes- visual image

Listen to the frozen air- auditory image

Pick an armful of darkness- visual image

By now at strangers door- visual image

 Alliteration- behind my bed room door like a brooding dog
Irony- or in wild despair.......................like a brooding dog

(your opinion about the poem)

The image of the window is a link between the past and the present. It signifies the desire of the poet for a nostalgic peep into her past

and resurrect her dreams and desires.