My Grandmother's House Poem Summary and Analysis

Introduction

This poem can be similar to any of the new remembering songs just in the form of the poem by Kamala Das, a perfect and true loving nature is tried to be shown in the poem. It is also called a reminiscent poem, which means writing used to express long or lasting love expressions for someone.

Summary

The poem is genuinely written by Kamala Das, who is also the main narrator of the poem and is always talking to her husband, who can be viewed as saying nothing in the poem.

Let's dive into the beautiful expressions of Kamala Das, who had tried to reflect all the childhood memories that she got in her grandmother's house. It describes how kamala das are emotionally attached to her grandmother and all her memories.

The beginning of the poem has lines such as:

"There is a house now far away where once
I received love....... That woman died,
The house withdrew into silence, and snakes moved."

The poet has tried to connect emotionally with her grandmother's family and house and how much she admires her time there. The house's description has been done straightforwardly, connecting all her emotional belonging in simpler words. She is saying how her grandmother's house was always filled with joy and chorus while her grandmother was alive. She also sensed the house's silence, with snakes moving and dirt everywhere.

In the second stanza, the poet describes the different rooms her grandmother left in the house with her beautiful memories. The kitchen is the best part for her, as grandmother always cooked her the best of meals and sweets for her, and the smell of that is kept till now. Another memory for the narrator is her grandmother's clock, which always kept ticking and reflects the memory of her grandmother when she visited the house.

The grandmother is always seen as the kindest, gentle, patient, and most remembered personality in the house. The grandfather is always portrayed as the sad part of the poem as he is the most remembered house member even though he is no longer alive. A sense of sadness is felt whenever she saws the portrait of her grandfather sticking to the wall.

As the poem lines follow, the poetess is trying to reflect on the passage of time and the changes she had felt since childhood through the poem's words. She feels a little pity at how good and picturized her grandmother had left the house with her beautiful caricatures and painting and her emotions, but now it has gone through such a bad condition which makes it happen.

She conveys and familiarises her audience or readers with the acknowledgment that she is no longer happy to see the house's condition. Still, she remembers every little detail as a memory of her beautiful years there.

The poem is an amazing and decadent art of literature showing the emotions of the meta characters of her grandparents and her memory in her grandmother's house. The poem ends with a reflection on the change that time causes when it passes, which has occurred over the time she visited her grandparent's home. The poet is seemingly not trying to convey the idea of the time change but more to feature the change of her house and its characters over time. She was unfortunate that she could not visit her house and take proper care of her memory, and about the changes made over the last few years, she was not in the house. The poem's last lines are as follows "The house is gone, / The grandmother is no more, / The things have changed / But the memory of the house remains."

The poet also covered every imagery, detail, and sensory character in the poem while describing how her house looked long before. It also impacted readers' minds and forced them to imagine the way of the house. Vivid words like "smells of cooking" and "the sound of Grandmother" clock have highly impacted our mind as readers and evokes a sense of nostalgia and peacefulness in us.

The poem also stays its senses for understanding memory, time, and the transience nature of human life, which make changes and mainly give the being emotional pain and suffering. Like in the poet's case, the memory of her grandmother's house has evoked unpleasant relishes while simultaneously being very sad for not caring for the house. The poet sighs at her, not forgetting the memories of the house.

Analysis

We have taken a quick summary in previous paragraphs; now it's time for a quick poem analysis.

The poem is set in nostalgia and talks about the nature of time, memory, and the transcendent nature of human life. Famous Indian poet and writer Kamala Das wrote it. The poet described her emotions towards the house her grandmother has left for her.

The poem's structure and language significantly impact the poem's overall feel. The poem reflects physical space but meditates on memory's transformative power.