There is a similar line length throughout the poem that leaves it feeling enclosed and less free. This feels like having all your ducks in a row or a overly organized structure, with no freedom of movement or verse. There is a multiple examples where the author uses descriptions of both parts of the human body like hair, voice, legs, knees and having of parts of clothing. The descriptions of things are mostly literal until the last line that describes the burning house. That last line is sort of a turn from the literal nature of the organized poem, but it still is of a similar line structure as the rest. This makes me believe there is a turn from the rest of the poem, but not in the way I originally thought. The description of a burning house is still a metaphor, but not really. The authors feelings about this place overpass any standard metaphor and become more literal. The description of the burning house immediately made me believe this house feels like hell to the writer. The description of queer sex that happens in the woods, away from home or comfort right before this descriptions, leads me to believe the family is not comfortable with this part of their son’s life and wish to contain him. What I am really trying to say here is that I think these lines are showing how closed off the author feels from comfort, is forced to be in a uniformed line, and is uncomfortable with his home life due to his parent’s opinions on his sexual preferences.
2 thoughts on “Boy at the edge of the woods”
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I find your interpretation of the boy’s house as hell and mirrored by his feelings of entrapment echoed in the structure of the poem to be eye opening. When initially, reading this poem I paid little attention to the structure of the piece and more of the isolation the boy felt and after having sex. However, after your analysis and rereading the poem, I realize the imprisonment both the structure of the poem provides and how the boy’s internal imprisonment is displayed demonstrating how his shame (or perhaps the other boy’s shame) of what they’ve done radiates and isolates him, much like he’s trapped in a burning house.
I completely agree with your interpretation of the “burning house,” in that it is a space where the narrator doesn’t feel comfortable being or expressing themselves. I think that the writer referring to this building as a “house” versus a “home” also emphasizes the lack of belonging and safety the narrator feels in this environment. Readers can assume that these feelings are caused by the pressure and disapproval of the parents living in this house, which would make sense given the motif of violence and trauma between the narrator and their parental figures in many of the poems in this collection. Particularly in the poem “Insomniac,” where the writer explores the complex relationship between the narrator and their mother.