Schizophrenia Thomas Stevens Analysis

The first literary term this writer will mention from Stevens’s poem is personification. Stevens used personification in “Schizophrenia” to describe how the house in the poem took on human qualities. The house in the poem suffered along with the family living inside of the home. “It was the house that suffered most.” (Stevens, 1922, line 1). The couple as well as the home lost the feelings of being happy and started to self-destruct. The poem started out by saying how the house was suffering. The word suffered indicated that the home took on human characteristics. The suffering of the home was brought on by the couple living inside the home. The couple did not get alone, causing friction inside the home. “It had begun with slamming doors,
In the beginning of the poem it shows how the house starts with the first stage of this schizophrenia, “… dishes were left unwashed, the cloth disappeared/under a hardened crust.” (Stevens, 1922, lines 7-8). This quote shows how the house was starting to get neglected by the people in the home. Stevens also showed that the house started feeling the effects of the neglect from the couple. “The house came to miss the shouting voices, /the threats, the half-apologies, noisy/reconciliations, the sobbing that followed.” (Stevens, 1922, line 9-11). The couple always argued, causing a negative atmosphere in the house. The negativity felt by the house is another sign of schizophrenia the house took on. With schizophrenia people tend to have a negative attitude and feel depressed. The couple tried the escape from their negative behaviors, but the disorder was to advance. It was too late to fix and the house felt the distress. When Stevens stated, “Seeing cracking paint, broken windows, the front door banging in the wind, the roof tiles flying off, one by one…” (Stevens, 1922, line 16). The house had become physically damaged and mentally destroyed from