A sense of home as a place of Insecurity Is continuously created In both -The New House’ and The House’; this is done in both similar and contrasting manners. Through various language techniques such as pathetic fallacy, varying use of caesuras, use of imagery & enjambment, both poets emphasis a feeling of tension and insecurity within the house. These techniques all contribute in the way the reader feels when reading the poems; this Is usually an unnerving uncomfortable feeling.
In both poems, the use of caesura and the lack of caesura portray very annotating affects; in ;The New House’, “… And the wind/ Began to moan”, the wind’s energy is dramatically halted for the account. This use of caesura conveys the winds, but also the voice of the poems’, thoughts and the progression of thoughts. Alternatively, the lack of this technique, in The House’ creates a strong breathless quality for the poem as well as drama, due to fear and tension, which reels the reader in. Another matter present which emphasizes insecurity in both poems is structure.
In The New House’, there is a very rigid, precise structure of four lines per Tanta, each line of a similar length. It also has a rhyme scheme and rhythm of ‘ABACA’. This ultimately shows that the poet has a very controlled view upon how the house is which is in considerable contrast to the matters discussed within the poem. This could suggest that voice of the poem Likes to be organized and Likes to be prepared but this desire for structure in his life is unobtainable and beyond his control.
The theme of insecurity is exaggerated in that the voice cannot get what it wants and In some respect It already knows that but Likes to remain In an illusion. However, in ‘The House’, there is no particular structure to the poem, but a significant amount of enjambment; it is more free and flowing than ‘The New House’. It links in with the characteristics spoken about within the poem. For Instance, the location alters from place to place all throughout the poem, I. E. “came from under a cupboard/ to be eaten by a dog. ‘ Crows were always sitting/ on wires, planning nests/ In the chimneys”.
This creates a sense of overwhelming confusion as the voice goes to various different places within the space of five lines. This also ties in with the idea hat the voice’s mind is perhaps wandering as he recalls the features of the house, this creates Insecurity as the reader Is forced to almost be In the mind of the voice and picture oneself in the house too. To conclude, both poems use structure in altering ways which have a profound impact on the reader, forcing the reader to feel uncomfortable and negative about both houses.
A further way In which both poems contrast is through the use of imagery. ‘The House’ is a narrative, descriptive poem, a foreboding feeling is created with the use of the sun, which is seen as, in context, a rueful and bad omen, suggests a contrasting image of a depressing future, which is almost inevitable. The sun is usually objectified as a vital feature of the world that gives soul and life into an object; bearing in mind the mellow, unnerving theme of toys vividly shown as Sweeney says Sunlight/ never took over the interior’.
This shows that the object that’s task is to provide life has been blocked or hindered by the walls of the house, which suggests the internal core of the house is very much dead. This adds to the sense of unnerving tension. In ‘The New House’, imagery is also present over through a different manner. The voice of the poem mentions death-themed memories in various occasions, I. E. “except the lambs bled dry’; using the word ‘lambs’ suggests it is an object which possesses youth, innocence and is full of life.
This image is almost instantly is contrasted by an oxymoron of “bled dry’ as it symbolizes death which has occurred an extended time ago. Lambs are symbolic of new life, and ‘bled’ is completely in comparison to that. This creates an eerie, frightening view of the house, which could create insecurity within the reader. To conclude, both ‘The House’ and ‘The New House’ have vivid imagery which is used overtly to create a strong sense of insecurity and tension. An additional way in which both Thomas and Sweeney portray insecurity within a house is through the use of pathetic fallacy.
The poems go from present to future and shows how someone’s life and the house have changed, giving the poem an insecure, and lonely mood/ atmosphere. When reading both poems, readers are placed on edge, feel unnerved and experience uncertainty for the poets and feel equally helpless. ‘The House’ is a reiterative, descriptive poem, a foreboding feeling is created with the use of an elemental diction, the wind, which is seen as a powerful and uncontrollable warning which cannot be stopped or tamed.
It states ‘To leave the house dark which gives the impression that the vicious and energetic wind is no longer in motion because the sudden stop in the line creates a dramatic and abrupt pause to the energy which was being portrayed by the wind before. This dramatic stop could be mirroring the sudden darkness falling over the house, again, creating a dramatic sense of insecurity as the comforting light fades away. This subsequently links with ‘The New House’ as in line nine, the poet writes “Nights of storm, days of mist, without end”.
The use of the word ‘storm’ creates the impression that this ferocious untamed weather has come bringing a bad future for the voice of the poem. Storms usually bring heavy winds, hail and harsh rain which are directly linked with the use of Wind’ in the House, used with a similar reason. Thomas’ using the phrase ‘days of mist’ suggest that his future is hidden and is beyond his control. The storm symbolizes the inevitability of back luck and negative experiences and the mist symbolizes how the voice may not be know when this will happen, thus not being able to ready himself.
Without end’ portrays the idea that this is a cycle which will continue for the substantial remaining period of the voice’s life. On a whole, the two poems use pathetic fallacy to exaggerate the mood the poets want to create, which is an eerie, tensed feeling. They both use pathetic fallacy to foreshadow events, e. G. The inevitability of death and the lack of control over life, which are two very similar homes. In conclusion, the poems ‘The House’ and ‘The New House’ both create a sense of insecurity in the home to a large extent.
They do this by using various techniques and methods, such as, caesuras, imagery, structure, enjambment and pathetic fallacy. Using such techniques allow the poets to implant a particular feeling or emotion within the reader’s mind, this is done vividly within both of the poems. A the voice of the poem is recalling the different aspects of the house and as he knows the house so well, it foreshadows that the house he describes may have been his won house which is almost a plot twist.
Also, in ‘The New House’, the life of the voice of the poem is described in a manner which is hopeless and lacking of control, especially in the inevitability of one eventually passing away. This foreshadows that the voice of the poem may fear upon death as he is close to death due to old age. This assumption is validated when he says ‘Old at once was the house, / and I was old”. This factor creates a massive sense of hopelessness and insecurity in the voice of the poem, which then translates onto how the reader feels.
