Needtoimprovemywriting

I am a secondary school student. I was wondering if any one of the thousands of individuals on this phorum could help me.

I need to interpret this poem : Wordsmith
Written by Susan Young, the poem is simply wonderful. But how to interpret it? I have a general drift of the idea.

The maintenance of the house acts as a metaphor between the relationship of the father and the daughter. But how? This is what I would like your help on. Could you please list some points as to how the house is a metaphor.

This is the poem:


In my mind i call my
father the Polyfilla King
watch with something akin to awe
as he begins the arduous process
of filling in the gaps, the long winded
cracks that travel down the walls of my house
like run on sentences.

From the sidelines i watch as he
trudges up and down the stairs, carrying
with nonchalance an industrial-sized bucket,
shiny spatula tucked into back pocket
for easy access.

Over and over again
with precision and grace
he fills and smooths and sands
as filling in all of the empty crevices
with the words he didn't know how to say,
the lost syllables and consonants springing up
from the bucket, stubbornly announcing themselves
home, until there is only smoothness,
my fifty eight year old house a perfect sentence.

the veritable sheen of its walls
privy to this father of mine,
whose love keeps him moving
from room to room, brightly asking,
Do you think you'll be painting the other room
upstairs sometime? I could start work on it now.
Then it'll be ready for painting later.
Yes, I say, yes,
my face aglow


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Most of the people on this forum are bright and intellectua, so i was wondering, if you could help me?

Thanks in advance...

scryer

Here goes nothing!
To me the father uses his handyman skills to avoid having a deeper relationship with his daughter.
House = Love. ??? He lavishes attention on the house instead of his daughter, so maybe House = attention.

Hope I helped a little.
by the way this is a really great poem!

Leapord

It seems like the relationship between father and daughter wasn't so great as she was growing up. Now that she's moved out of the house, he seems to be trying to make an effort to help and show his love for her, and she is genuinely responding to that. (Me, I feel weird when people help me, especially my parents now that I've grown, so I doubt that's how I'd react, but that seems to be her reaction).

This stanze is where I got the bit about how their relationship wasn't very good (as filling in all of the empty crevices / with the words he didn't know how to say), while I would say the "perfect sentence" is "I love you." Many parents (my own father included) seem to have trouble saying or showing that to their children. Here, the narrator believes her father has finally learned how to show it, in this case by fixing up her house.

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Needtoimprovemywriting

wow great replies so far......
thanks scryer and leapord
really appreciate it..

any other views???

swisstony

WHy don't you do your own homework???

The whole point of poetry appreciation is you getting whatever you do out of it.

As a former English teacher, I find this request a tad frustrating.

Needtoimprovemywriting

Everything counts for marks you know. It's not like the teachers mark fairly easily. Opinion isn't always appreciated by the teachers. They prefer reason over opinion.

Hope that answers your question.

gordon

What do you think its about Swiss Tony?
Just intrested.
G

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faking_sanity

um, i'll do my best...this father, like most men--at least most men i know, have a hard time verbalizing their feelings/thoughts/emotions. they try to show their love/affection through other means, in this case, fixing up a house for his daughter. it's like a parent who can't always be there for his/her kid because of work or for some other reason. the kid resents that, but as the child grows up he/she realizes that their parent/s sacrificing quality time with the kids to provide good, clean healthy living was their parents way of showing love.

the father's 'polyfilla' is like the 'i'm sorries' or 'i love you's' or the 'you're a great kid' the daughter needed/wanted to hear growing up...

hope that helps...

DL Ferguson

I agree. And I find I'm seeing it more and more on this forum. Which may explain why I've been visiting it less and less.

Lara

I did exams on unseen poetry for A-level, do you have to do these too?
Who will help you then?
You need to practise interpreting the poems for yourself, people want to see your opinion but you need to be able to back up your opinion. There is no point using other peoples views on the poem.

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Nazareth

I think a person asking for help isn't such a bad thing- The more they see how others interpret, the more they will be able to develope their own interpretations.

Send a student mechanic into a shop with an engine that is torn apart & tell him to either appreciate the engine & put it together- or - show that person the mechanics so they can develope their own appreciations as they develope as a mechanic.

A little guidance goes a long ways toward stopping burn out & frustration.

Alexander

That's what I got out of it too.

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"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."
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