Box Room Flashcards
“A space/ for handshakes”
Enjambment - gives a sense of stutter when they meet. What to do next?
” Then she put me in my place”
Ambiguous. Mother shows girl to room but mother also asserts herself - makes girl think that mother thinks very little of her
“(Oh, with concern for my comfort).”
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
“Unless, of course, he brings a Friend”
“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
“He’ll make do tonight/ in the lounge on the put-u-up”
Limit on stay, one night, she will not be staying longer, also separate rooms suggests a distrust between mother and girlfriend
“It’ll be fine I’m sure”
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
“Leaving me “peace to unpack” she goes”
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
“My weekend case/ (Lightweight, glossy, made of some synthetic Miracle)”
Cynical description of girls weekend case but could potentially also be the way the mother may describe the girl
“I are left alone in her pathetic/ shrine to you lost boyhood”
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
“She must/ think she can brush off time with dust - from model aeroplanes”
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
“I laugh it off in self defence”
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
“Who have come for the weekend to state my permanence”
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
“First the welcoming. Smiles all round”
Two short sentences
Polite, awkward pauses
“Peace to unpack - but I found none”
Repetition - ironic idea she is not at peace - upset
Emphasis on “none”
“In this spare room which once contained you”
Feels intruding
“Contained” - WC suggests that mother tried to keep him restricted, under here control
“Dun coloured walls”
Bland, boring, suggests childhood was rather dull
“One small window which used to frame your old horizons”
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
“What can I blame/ for my unrest, insomnia”
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
“Elbows me, embedded deeply here/ in an outgrown bed”
Personification of fear - painful reminder of what is causing her unrest.
Play on word - ‘embedded’ - flag of defence
“Narrow, but no narrower/ than the single bed we sometimes share”
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
“Your bookshelves are crowded with previous prizes”
Potentially talking about academic prizes gained as a child or previous relationships that have ended. Unease - passing fad?
“Your egg collection/ shatters me”
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
“You never wrecked a nest”
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
“The electric blanket and the deceptive mildness of the night”
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
Intro for box room
‘… 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.
