In Jenning’s ‘My Grandmother,’ the grandmother’s behavior implies that she doesn’t need anyone in her life to caring for her. But, the poem’s main point is that the speaker believes this is far from the truth. The primary reason she was taking so much time caring for and collecting antique items was that she was lonely.
The poem begins with the speaker describing the antique shop that her grandmother used to have. In the shop, she would collect and polish items that the speaker found a little value in. The speaker also recalls a time when her grandmother invited her out on a shopping trip, something that she refused. To this day, she still feels guilt over this refusal.
Eventually, the grandmother becomes too frail to care for her shop and has to close it. She moves a few items she’s able to into a narrow room in her home. She dies, and the speaker is left walking through her possessions and considering her grandmother’s life.
1. My Grandmother
by Elizabeth
Jennings
Jenning’s ‘My Grandmother,’ the
grandmother’s behavior implies that she
doesn’t need anyone in her life to caring
for her. But, the poem’s main point is that
the speaker believes this is far from the
truth. The primary reason she was taking so
much time caring for and collecting
antique items was that she was lonely.
The main themes of this poem are aging
and family relationships. The speaker had a
strange relationship with her grandmother.
As a young girl, she was seemingly put off
by her grandmother’s obsessive behavior
and dedication to an antique store. The
grandmother was using the antiques, or so
the speaker believed, to fill a hole in her
heart left by the fact that she had no loving
partner to care for, or to care for her, in the
later years of her life.
