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Stephen Guppy's Heaven - Page 3
© Darren Anderson
Page 3
Jun 1, 2005
Part two of Understanding Heaven explores the narrator's perspective as a new parent, who is now fully immersed in realm of experience. The perspective of part two's poems is taken from the outside looking in. As mentioned previously, we move from the realm of innocence to the realm of experience, and we can never return to our previous selves. The narrator explores this stage of life through metaphor. There is no better example of this experience then the poem, "Building a Dollhouse 4: the inhabitants". This poem is about the inevitable departure from childhood, and a yearning from the parent to prolong the child's innocence as much as possible. However, the narrator is fully aware of his child changing, which is expressed in the line, "wombed in a childhood too quickly cast off" (47 line 32). This poem is interesting because it is taken from the perspective of the dollhouse figures. The dolls are represented as living objects and look at the narrator and his child as entities that are separating from each other. The narrator speaks of this when he says "They observe us from their little windows" (46 line 15), and, "We are moving/away from each other at nearly/the velocity of light (lines 23-25). The dollhouse and its inhabitants are material objects that are soon to be left behind by the narrator's daughter. These objects stay behind, allowing to narrator to understand what they represent. The dolls, and obviously the narrator, are troubled by this passing of time. An inevitable rift is created when he states, "the tiny rooms blurred into archives of dust,/the baffled dolls sleeping like pharaohs" (47 lines 33-34). This poem is a successful representation of part two for three reasons. The message is unique and presented with an interesting perspective. We can actually visualize these dolls through the language they speak. The story is easy to follow, and the readers, especially parents, would be able to relate to this unique experience. We have all outgrown certain things such as toys, and there comes a day when we put the toys away. As parents, we are somewhat disappointed when this happens, but we know this is inevitable and we must accept the movement of time. In a way, retiring the dolls is a symbolic act of moving from childhood to adulthood. The third reason why this poem is a success, is because it uses refreshing diction and devices in order to create the poem's solid structure. Alliteration and assonance such as, "It suits them, inevitably, to pretend we don't exist" (46 line 12), are used to effectively maintain a disciplined rhythm that occurs throughout the poem.
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The copyright of the article Stephen Guppy's Heaven - Page 3 in Canadian Literature is owned by Darren Anderson. Permission to republish Stephen Guppy's Heaven - Page 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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