Compare the relationships and emotions in the following poems; Home

Compare the relationships and emotions in the following poems; Home

Burial, Long Distance and My Grandmother.

I am going to compare the relationships and emotions in the following

poems; “Home Burial, “Long Distance” and “My Grandmother”.

In all three of these poems, there is a common theme. They are all to

do with the breakdown in communication and relationships between

family and have characters, which are dealing with grief.

Each of the poems tackles these themes in different ways.

The first poem” Home Burial” is a dramatic narrative poem in which we

are presented with a couple whose marriage is in crisis, It explores

how the different responses of a husband and a wife of the death of

their child has had a damaging affect on their relationship.

The poem “Long Distance” is written by a son reflecting on the

experience of his fathers’ grief of the loss of his wife.

In the final poem, the poet writes an account of the life and death of

her grandmother and how she responds to it.

The wife from “Home Burial” is stood upon the top of their stairs

looking out at the mound under where her child is buried.

“What is it you see? She in her place refused him any help.”

This shows the inadequacy of communication between them, as struggles

to find the reasons for her behaviour she won’t let him past her

barrier, give him any help or any insight to her problem. It also

displays that she feels as though he couldn’t possibly understand why

she is so dull because she sees him as blind and unable to relate to

what she is feeling. It also suggests a feeling of resentment towards

her husband.

“Her face changed from terrified to dull.”

This leads us to believe that there is no spark of love between them

anymore and that she has grown a sense of hatred towards him.

Amy doesn’t want her husband to speak of the loss of his child because

she believes that her husband doesn’t have any respect for their child

as he dug the grave for it.

“Can’t a man speak of his own child he’s lost?”

“Not you!”

I feel that the women has misunderstood the mans actions and that by

burying his child is his way of steeping himself in his grief, of

forcing it into his muscles of his arms and his back, of feeling the

dirt on his clothes.

She wants to get out of the house and to get out of having this

conversation with him. This sort of situation has happened before as

the man says,