Box Room

Question 1

“A space/ for handshakes”

Answer 1

Enjambment - gives a sense of stutter when they meet. What to do next?

Question 2

” Then she put me in my place”

Answer 2

Ambiguous. Mother shows girl to room but mother also asserts herself - makes girl think that mother thinks very little of her

Question 3

“(Oh, with concern for my comfort).”

Answer 3

Brackets, parenthesis
Girl doesn’t think that the comment is genuine, sarcastic comment
Quoting what mother said to put the girl in her place whilst apparently discussing domestic arrangements

Question 4

“Unless, of course, he brings a Friend”

Answer 4

“Friend” - mothers title to girl, not according her title as girlfriend, suggest something about relationship?
Implication is that there has been many girlfriends before her

Question 5

“He’ll make do tonight/ in the lounge on the put-u-up”

Answer 5

Limit on stay, one night, she will not be staying longer, also separate rooms suggests a distrust between mother and girlfriend

Question 6

“It’ll be fine I’m sure”

Answer 6

Surface meaning of the domestic arrangements, can also imply that the mother feels as if the future will work out the way she wants - the girl does not stay and her son remains hers

Question 7

“Leaving me “peace to unpack” she goes”

Answer 7

Inversion - emphasis on “she goes” suggests relief

Quotation marks quote what mother has said but the fact that the girl uses “” suggests doubt whether she’ll find peace

Question 8

“My weekend case/ (Lightweight, glossy, made of some synthetic Miracle)”

Answer 8

Cynical description of girls weekend case but could potentially also be the way the mother may describe the girl

Question 9

“I are left alone in her pathetic/ shrine to you lost boyhood”

Answer 9

Sense in which bedroom is a relic of the past which the girl sees as a bit sad.
“Shrine” suggests that the mother worships her son, adoration of son
Girl doesn’t think that the mother has taken into account that her son is now a man

Question 10

“She must/ think she can brush off time with dust - from model aeroplanes”

Answer 10

Emphasise contrast between what the mother thinks and the reality of the girlfriends view
As if the mother doesn’t see time from his boyhood to mow as significant, can be dismissed as easily as dust

Question 11

“I laugh it off in self defence”

Answer 11

Self defence - physical presence, she girlfriend, prepared to defend her position, shows she feels under attack. Trying to put a brave face on it / not make it seem as if the mother is bothering her

Question 12

“Who have come for the weekend to state my permanence”

Answer 12

Staking her claim to be there for the long term, it may be a weekend but she is going to be there on a permanent basis

Question 13

“First the welcoming. Smiles all round”

Answer 13

Two short sentences

Polite, awkward pauses

Question 14

“Peace to unpack - but I found none”

Answer 14

Repetition - ironic idea she is not at peace - upset

Emphasis on “none”

Question 15

“In this spare room which once contained you”

Answer 15

Feels intruding

“Contained” - WC suggests that mother tried to keep him restricted, under here control

Question 16

“Dun coloured walls”

Answer 16

Bland, boring, suggests childhood was rather dull

Question 17

“One small window which used to frame your old horizons”

Answer 17

Looking around room sees a small window the view he used to see was limited. Metaphorical sense of the limiting of his aspirations, claustrophobic quality

Question 18

“What can I blame/ for my unrest, insomnia”

Answer 18

Enjambment on blame - rhetorical question puts forward as an answer but also part of the question. Trying to blame something else but fear. Fear never leaves her

Question 19

“Elbows me, embedded deeply here/ in an outgrown bed”

Answer 19

Personification of fear - painful reminder of what is causing her unrest.
Play on word - ‘embedded’ - flag of defence

Question 20

“Narrow, but no narrower/ than the single bed we sometimes share”

Answer 20

The bed seems narrower than a normal bed. Normal bed - suggestion somehow that as an outgrown bed it is also a remnant of his past which has been left behind
Claustrophobic sense of narrower bed which seems to ‘absorb’ her

Question 21

“Your bookshelves are crowded with previous prizes”

Answer 21

Potentially talking about academic prizes gained as a child or previous relationships that have ended. Unease - passing fad?

Question 22

“Your egg collection/ shatters me”

Answer 22

Firstly seen as a morally wrong hobby, secondly concerned that passion for hobby which has passed could also predict future - passing fad?
WC “shatters” - suggests intensity of emotion against erstwhile hobby

Question 23

“You never wrecked a nest”

Answer 23

His self justification. Responsible nest robber. Can also suggest he’s saying he’s always been a responsible boyfriend, never chasing after married women or ruining families

Question 24

“The electric blanket and the deceptive mildness of the night”

Answer 24

Fears run deep, can’t relax, shiver is not cold but to do with emotional response, nothing can warm that other reassurance.
Highlights the undercurrent of tension underlying the apparent warmth of welcome

Question 25

Intro for box room

Answer 25

‘… The poem centres around the meeting of a son’s mother and his girlfriend. The box-room the girl is shown to is the boy’s childhood bedroom, the fact that it is described as a box-room helps to create the stifling atmosphere that the speaker (the girl) experiences.