My Grandmother by Elizabeth Jennings

 Elizabeth Jennings 

Elizabeth Jennings was an English poet known for her personal and clear style. Her poetry often reflects her Roman Catholic faith and love for Italy. She studied at Oxford High School and St. Anne’s College, Oxford. Her first collection, poems, was published in 1953. She won a Somerset Maugham Award for A Way of Looking . She was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1992.

My Grandmother - Summary 

This poem explores the relationship between the speaker and her dead grandmother. The poem starts with the speaker talking about her grandmother's antique shop, where she used to collect and polish items the speaker didn't find valuable. The speaker remembers refusing an invitation from her grandmother to go shopping, and she still feels guilty about it. As the grandmother gets older and frail, she has to close the shop and move a few items to a small room in her home. After her grandmother dies, the speaker goes through her belongings and reflects on her grandmother's life.

Stanza Wise Analysis 

Stanza One

In the first stanza of 'My Grandmother,' the speaker talks about how the grandmother was defined by her love for her antique shop. The speaker quickly adds that maybe the shop actually "kept" her grandmother. This means the shop might have been so important to her that it gave her purpose and kept her busy every day.

The grandmother had many things in the shop, like heavy furniture. This shows that while the speaker might have respected how much the grandmother cared about the shop, they didn’t really get why she was so attached to what seemed like worthless items. The speaker recalls seeing her grandmother in the shop, looking at her own reflection in the polished brass and silver items. The grandmother was very devoted to taking care of the shop and its contents. The speaker thinks she did this to convince herself that she didn't need anything else in her life, especially not love.

This part of the poem highlights that the grandmother didn't have a loving partner during this time and, even though she acted like she didn't need one, she was actually longing for someone

Stanza Second

In this stanza, the speaker remembers being a child and observing her grandmother's interactions with the items in her shop. Her grandmother's behavior confused and worried her. One particular time stands out when her grandmother asked her to go out, maybe to shop for more items for the store, and the young speaker said no. She was "afraid" and didn't want to be used like the antiques to fill the emptiness in her grandmother's heart, or at least that's what she thought she felt then.

After refusing, she felt guilty for not wanting to spend time with someone who clearly needed companionship. Although her grandmother never said she was hurt by this refusal, the speaker believes she was and still feels the guilt of saying no.

Third Stanza

The third stanza shifts to a time when the grandmother has grown too old and frail to take care of the shop and its many items. She had to close the shop and move a few things she wanted to keep into her home. All her “best things” fit into just one narrow room. Although this line is simple, it is deeply sad. The grandmother’s life had been reduced to a few items in a small room. The speaker also notes that these things didn’t seem particularly valuable. They were smelly and reminded the speaker of "absences where shadows come / That can’t be polished.” The objects only highlighted what was missing from her grandmother’s life and made the speaker think of her grandmother’s loneliness during this time.

The grandmother no longer felt the same comfort from the items she used to polish in her shop. There was nothing in this room that could reflect her image back to her and provide a sense of identity and purpose.

Stanza Fourth

The final stanza jumps to the time after the grandmother has died. Following her death, the speaker doesn’t feel any guilt about her passing but still feels guilty about refusing to go out with her grandmother when she was younger. The speaker describes walking into the grandmother’s narrow room filled with items from her antique shop. These items, like sideboards and cupboards, were things the grandmother never used for storage but felt she “needed.” This underscores how the items in the shop provided the grandmother with the comfort she lacked from human relationships.

The speaker observes the cupboards and sideboards, noting that there were “no finger marks…there.” The items were clean and undamaged, only beginning to gather “new dust falling through the air.” The dust collecting on these meticulously cared-for items for the first time signifies the end of the grandmother’s life and highlights the importance she placed on these mundane objects.

Thank you.