Box Room Essay Example
Box Room
2010. Q5
Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Show how the poet creates a mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole.
A poem which I recently studied was Box Room by Liz Lochhead. This poem focuses on the recount of a girlfriend meeting her boyfriends’ mother for the very first time. For the duration of her stay, the girl stays in her boyfriend’s childhood room; this is the 'box room' referred to in the title. The poem describes her encounter with the boyfriend's mother, as well as her observations of his room. There is a very harsh and tense mood throughout the whole poem between the poet and her boyfriend’s mother. These moods are evoked very clearly throughout the poem through Lochhead’s use of word choice, Imagery and sentence structure.
In the first stanza, the poet talks about the tension between the mother and her attitude towards her. She makes known to reader immediately that at the first meeting, the tension between the mother and herself was one that was harsh and bitter.
'(Oh with the concern for my comfort)'
This use of parenthesis immediately shows that the poet is fully aware that the mother does not approve of her by her action, she sarcastically makes a side comment to herself stating that she knows the mother does not care for her wellbeing or comfort but is in fact saying that to put up a polite front for the sons sake.
Later in the first stanza, the poet once again makes it aware that she is not fond of the mother and begins to mock her and the mood is humorous as the poet begins to insult her preservation of her sons room
'her pathetic shrine to your lost boyhood'
The use of 'pathetic' suggests that the girlfriend recognises that the mother is clinging to her sons’ boyhood as if she is worshipping him. The poets word choice of 'pathetic' conveys her
2010. Q5
Choose a poem in which the creation of mood or atmosphere is an important feature. Show how the poet creates a mood or atmosphere, and discuss its importance in your appreciation of the poem as a whole.
A poem which I recently studied was Box Room by Liz Lochhead. This poem focuses on the recount of a girlfriend meeting her boyfriends’ mother for the very first time. For the duration of her stay, the girl stays in her boyfriend’s childhood room; this is the 'box room' referred to in the title. The poem describes her encounter with the boyfriend's mother, as well as her observations of his room. There is a very harsh and tense mood throughout the whole poem between the poet and her boyfriend’s mother. These moods are evoked very clearly throughout the poem through Lochhead’s use of word choice, Imagery and sentence structure.
In the first stanza, the poet talks about the tension between the mother and her attitude towards her. She makes known to reader immediately that at the first meeting, the tension between the mother and herself was one that was harsh and bitter.
'(Oh with the concern for my comfort)'
This use of parenthesis immediately shows that the poet is fully aware that the mother does not approve of her by her action, she sarcastically makes a side comment to herself stating that she knows the mother does not care for her wellbeing or comfort but is in fact saying that to put up a polite front for the sons sake.
Later in the first stanza, the poet once again makes it aware that she is not fond of the mother and begins to mock her and the mood is humorous as the poet begins to insult her preservation of her sons room
'her pathetic shrine to your lost boyhood'
The use of 'pathetic' suggests that the girlfriend recognises that the mother is clinging to her sons’ boyhood as if she is worshipping him. The poets word choice of 'pathetic' conveys her