Poetry - My Rival's House

Question 1

Describe the type of joke is My Rival’s House based on?

Answer 1

Mother-in-law jokes

• They have a long tradition in comedy, going back to Roman times
• They centre around the idea that there is something oppressive/unpleasant about mother in laws
• Traditionally delivered by male voices

Question 2

How does My Rival’s house subvert mother-in-law jokes?

Answer 2

It is a late 20th c. feminist retelling of the classic mother-in-law jokes from a female perspective
= both women are rivals for the man’s affections, their worth is dependent on his attention

Question 3

Give 4 comic features present in My Rival’s House

Answer 3

• Narrator mocks the rival’s house, her attitudes towards it and her obsession with appearances
• Comic rivalry
• Sarcastic tone of narrator
• Dark undercurrents

Question 4

What does the stanza structure of My Rival’s House imply about the narrator?

Answer 4

Stanza’s decrease in size

- Implies that the narrator’s strength to fight is ebbing away as she realises the rivals true status and capabilities

Question 5

How does Lochhead use rhyme in My Rival’s House, and what does this imply about the narrative?

Answer 5

Full rhyme used irregularly
- Reflects the battle of control in the poem and the narrators shifting sense of power/self esteem

Couplets + triplets perhaps relate to the shifting relationships between husband, wife and mother.

Question 6

Give 4 examples of Lochhead’s use of language in My Rival’s House to convey atmosphere/emotion

Answer 6

• Semantic field of appearances (furnishings etc. ) = oppressive
• Sibilance: hissing, whispers to emphasise quietness of house ( & relationship?)
• Plosives are used to convey narrator’s anger and hostility
• Animal imagery to show the animal instincts that exist under the civilised veneer.