My Grandmother’s House

Paraphrase

The poem ‘My Grandmother’s House’ is a very compassionate poem. The gravity of the poem is rest on the degree of transmission of emotions that often we relate to ourselves. We often come across the memories of grandmother; her narration of tales and above all a grandmotherly care. This poem is a painful record of poet’s longing of past. She is unfolding the closed chapters of her early life; gone are the days, the days of her unquestioned happy moments with grandmother altogether. Poet is narrating her own true story that the house is very far away and the house caretaker is no more, where, once she was loved. She says the house has drowned in deep silence, and snakes crawling here and there, where, once she used to be. Now, the poet took us to the place where used to go and stand against the window and feel the blowing unbearable cold wind.

Most probably, the poet is talking about her old aged grandmother who often needs somebody’s help to move within. The Poet’s assistance to her grandmother leaves her often unhappy or despair. The sorrow envelopes her when she looks her grandmother becoming old day after day. Now, the poet turns to her husband and she tries to assure about her darlingness for her grandmother. She feels proud to think of her or to be part of such lovable family. Grandmother’s affection is very supreme in degree; the intensity of her emotion is very high. Undoubtedly, as we say grandmother for her seniority in the family, as a child we say grandmother to seek or grant all the permissions that we do not find frequently from our parents.

The poet has brought us to her husband’s house where she has to persuade each or everyone to seek his or her affection. Here, she finds love or compassionate treatment after some compromises. She often relies on the wishes of others who could not understand her yet. Thus, she is assuring her husband about the manner or treatment received by her grandmother. She is contrasting the culture of these two houses.