For homework, year 11 have to comment on the unseen poem in the comments section below. The rules are simple:
- Read other comments before you post, we don’t want any repeated ideas!
- Use a quotation from the poem to support your view.
- Make a comment on language, structure, ideas, themes or opinions.
- Try to develop your answer as much as you can.
You can ask a question to get others thinking. There will be a prize for the most constructive answers!
If you want a challenge, attempt a response to this question: ‘What are the poets’ feelings about their house? How are these feelings presented?’ (30 minutes)
Good Luck!
Miss Ryan's GCSE English & Media 
From the first look at the title, In my opinion i think that the poem might be about someone planning to move in to a house that they have just recently bought or rented. It could be also about someone talking about the house that they are living in right now or talking about a house that they have lived in before. This might link in with the fact that the title of the poem is really short as someone might have had a short stay at a house an dtalking about their experience during that short stay.
The house is personified in this peom quite a lot. The poet portarys the house as a real person; ‘the house doesn’t see you’. ‘The house winks’, this suggests that blinds on the windows are eyes to the house, and that it can see everything. However when the poet states ‘the house doesn’t see you’ it shows that even though they house can ‘see’ everything, it is choosing not to see anything and to keep something a secret. Also ‘the house welcomes you with a big red smile’ connotes that the house is very comfy, and delightful place to stay at. Also the fact that the poet is continuoulsy comparing the house to a person it suggests that if the house was to be a person, the person woul dbe a very welcoming and friendly person. This tells us that the house has more depth in it than what we would normally think. It also shows that the house almost has a brain of it’s own as it being compared to a human being to so much detail.
From the title ‘house’, nothing is really given away apart from the fact that the poem is to do with a house. The writer may have done this to either lead the reader on to reading the rest of the poem as a persuasive technique, or he may have done this for a particular reason. The reason being the poem is about a house- a house that is purposely personified to hide the rebellious, youthful secrets of the owners daughter whom simply is in love with her boyfriend. However her father disapproves of this undeniable love as he frequently tries to ‘catch them together’. The fact that the daughter is personifying the house as a guardian implements that the house isn’t giving anything away, hence the poets choice of the vague title.
Further on, there is a lot of figurative language portrayed in the poem, molding the house into a character. The poet metaphorically states that the house ‘welcomes’ the boyfriend into him/her – as the gender of the character is not specified’ – with a ‘big red smile’. We can interpret the ‘big red smile’ to connote the colour of the houses door. The poet wittily implies that the door openly,opens itself at his presence with a warm welcoming smile, designating ‘approval’ of their relationship. You could also say that the poet deliberately gives the house a ‘red’ smile, purposely implying that the house has human-like features which are personified throughout the poem.
The theme present throughout the poem is love and affection. This can be seen by, “the windows approved of us”. The togetherness of the narrator and his/her lover suggests how his/her father doesn’t approve of their lover but the house does. This could be interpreted by saying the house is like the father who allows the relationship to go on and the lovers take the houses’ permission to be together. It also gives a glimpse of security and warmth because the narrator comforts their lover and assures them that they won’t be caught, “The back of the house doesn’t see you, nor does my father”. So the bond between the two lovers is very strong and they will go against all odds to be with each other.
Looking at the title my first thought about this poem was someone telling us information about their house and what it means to them, as I read through the poem the poet goes on to say that ‘The house ‘wasn’t worried’ this tells me that the house is almost watching over the boy and looking out for him. ‘Now the door welcomes you with a big red smile’. This suggests that the house is a warm and welcoming thing to the person and that the house makes him feel happy and wanted, the house is described with personal features to show the audience that a house is just as important as a human being and that it has the same feelings as a person does. From the poem we can tell that the person has a close relationship with it’s house and the house brings him a safe feeling.
Lovely comments so far, lots on the ideas and feelings. Anyone want to chip in with some comment on structure?
The poem is written in 6 stanzas, with four lines in each stanza, which are known to be quatraines. The first line of each stanza talks about the house, or rather, “House”. The effect of doing this connotes that unlike other house owners, this owner thinks about the house before themself, whereas other owners wouldn’t give second thought about their home. The poet has skillfully done this to ask the readers to consider on taking care of their home because it important for them to do so, as their ‘house’ has gifted them with shelter. The enjambment used between line 20 and 21 suggests that while the son/daughter is having fun with the house, his/her father has to endure the boring life of paperwork. This contrast is applied to display the fact that though father may not have the desire to go to work, he has to, in order to take good care of the house, hence his/her ‘father and briefcase’ were ‘at work’.
From the title we can assume that the ‘house’ is small as the title is just one word. However people can argue that because there are six stanzas, each containig a quatrain shows that it’s a regular poem and as a result it might be a regular, normal house. But because we havent got the full description of the house, it’s up to us how we see the house. the poet has given the house human feelings. ‘The house wasn’t worried’,’the house winked’. All of these personifications of the house shows that the house has been given feelings like humans and therefore it makes it more interesting, engaging and we can relate to it more. When the house gives a ‘big red smile’, some people might believe that the colour of the door is red. This is just a simple description of the house. However when you think a bit deeper, the ‘red’ can symbolise evil. Because the house knows everything about the gir’s relationship with her boyfriend, so the house feels proud, as it knows more secrets than the girls’ father. There is an interesting enjambent to back up this point from line 20-21, because it states that when the dad goes to ‘work’, the house is still there and sees everything and as aresult feels proud of it’s self and it has power because of it.
The structure is regular throughout the poem, each stanza consists of four lines therefore its written in quatrains. This shows the flowing ideas of the poet and could symbolise their on-going relationship even if her father does not approve of it. However this contrasts with the house as “the door welcomes you with a big red smile” There is no rhyme used throughout the poem, this is interesting because love poems usually use rhyme to express emotions, as its not used in this poem, this could inform the reader that their relationship might come to an end as even her father does not approve of it. There is enjambment used “spooning frothy coffee into each other’s mouths while my father…” The use of enjambment here could link the two idea’s because “coffee” is usually related to work or stress but here its portrayed positively. This also contrasts with the image of her father at work.
The poem is arranged in 6 quatrains. The structure is regular which could represent the narrator’s relationship between her lover, which seems to be at a steady pace. There is also enjambment from stanza’s 5 and 6. The lovers are “spooning frothy coffee into each other’s mouths” (next line), “while my father and briefcase are at work”. This shows how the narrator has to hide from his/her father. The enjambment could represent the distance from the father and the narrator, or even how big the difference is between the relationships. So, while the lovers are close and spend a lot of time together, the narrator and their father seem to be quite distant. Also, the narrator is always hiding from his/her father. The author did this on purpose as it creates a visual diversion which highlights the fact that the father really doesn’t like his daughters/sons relationship.
The writer doesn’t use many short, 1 line length sentences which some may interpret as the author having much to say about the house and in detail suggesting it is of high importance and significance to the speaker. However many longer sentences there are, “the step has warmed itself specially” is the only noticeably brief sentence and it could be said that the writer did this with purpose so that we may realise that it’s the minute details, like a warmed step, that people might overlook and fail to understand that it adds and develops onto the character of a humble house.
From the title of this poem; ‘house’, we can deduce that the poet is talking about her house; this is interesting because normally when a person who talks about his own house they usually use ‘home’ this can show that someone just moved into a new house and as the stanzas pass so does the felling of this person towards their house. We can also see that the poem has regular stanzas and has 6 pairs of six quatrains which indicate that the poet is happy to live where he is as the regular stanzas show balance in their lives. As we read on we see that the house is personified throughout the poem for example the first line “The back of the house doesn’t see you…” the poet describes the house nearly as a human, just as humans cannot see anyone behind them without turning, the house cannot see either however the hose is given facial features e.g. “both our faces” and “the doors welcomes you with a big red smile” not only does this show that the house is being personified but it also shows the acceptance of the poet from the house, I think that the poem ‘house’ is about the poets dream house, where she can live happily with her parents almost as living in a fantasy.
This poem is in a regular structure and is in the form of quatrains. looking at the structure of this poem, I can interpret that the poem will be consistent throughout which suggests to the reader that there may not be any contrast.
In this poem I can see that there is a lot of thought coming from the writer. Also I can see that the house is personified quite a bit.
The title of the poem, House, doesn’t not give information away as it is a one word title which suggests that this poem may be about a property. Throughout the poem, in the first 3 stanza’s, they all use the word ‘house’ whereas after stanza 3, they stopped mentioning the word house. This suggests that after the house gets given human features, it no longer needs to be called a property as it behaves unusually and plays the role of a human as it keeps secrets from the father. Also the amount the stanza’s (6) could represent the amount of months the boy and girl have been dating.