MAY 2008 HL Paper 1
Sample 1: Question 1a
Philip Hobsbaum’s poem ‘Household Gods’ describes a desolate, abandoned house, once occupied by a romantic couple that split up near the time of narration. Hobsbaum reinforces the noises of desolation and destruction – of both the relationship of the couple and of the house – by giving the house and several household items a voice, to recount the memories of the former occupants. Through vivid and sensual imagery, and alternating between past and present tenses, Hobsbaum shows the contrast between the former times, the desolation now, and the process in which it happened.
There is a touch of irony in the title of ‘Household Gods’, a traditional concept of placing idols to worship, and seek protection from. In this poem, however, the roles are reversed, as the ‘gods’ within the house are dependent on the tenants’ patronage and acceptance. This conveys the idea that the ‘household gods’ are closely tied to the couple, and their split and departure resulted in the neglect of the household items – a metaphorical downfall.
The poem is divided into nine stanzas. That each stanza is enclosed by inverted commas reflects that the poem is being narrated by several ‘household gods’, and creates a voice in the reader’s mind. The rhyme of each paragraph is regular ABAB, to show some semblance of order, but is punctuated by several cases of half or slight rhyme to show the neglect and the falling apart of the house. The poem can also be divided roughly into three parts, although each stanza is unique in that a different facet of the couple’s lives is revealed, similar to the fashion in which each god in a polytheistic belief is responsible for different aspects of life.
The first four stanzas expound mostly on the physical, sensual aspects of the former occupants’ life and relationship. The mention of ‘mirrored’ suggests that a mirror is narrating, and its reflection of the couple’s ‘breaking lives’ also implies it is broken as well. The mirror conveys a sense of fadedness and ‘pale’ imitations of the past, and focuses on the physical details of ‘pale / Distraught’ happenings, the male lover’s ‘bulk’ and the female’s ‘calm pose’, and ‘lined despair’. The repetition of ‘I saw’ and the use of past tense emphasises the notice of past events and sights.
The household item narrating next is unclear – possibly a long musical instrument such as a flute, as suggested by the diction of long sounds like ‘long’, ‘been’, ‘even’, ‘all’, and ‘slim’, and the constant run-on lines to make the stanza one long sentence. The stanza’s focus is on sensual, physical ‘caressing’, as a flute would be accustomed to fingers touching it, seen in the sensual imagery of touching and feeling. Here, past tense is also used predominantly to show the reminiscent nature and tone of the household god’s narration.
The physical aspect of the couple is continued by the narration of what seems like a cup. The sensual imagery of a kiss is conveyed with the male’s ‘lips on’ the cup, and the intensity of love is shown with the mention of ‘in the morning, or, in darkness’. The action of the man holding the cup is also likened to a ‘happy embrace’, and the use of ‘warmed’ suggests the cup’s joy at being held. Conversely, the couple’s relationship can also be compared to a cup. It explains the relationship’s fate in a way like a cup’s fate is described –‘broken and swept away’, to show the closeness between the household items and the couple’s romance.
A rug recounts the events next. It also pays attention to the physicality of the ex-occupants with the mention of ‘feet’ and ‘strode’. There is a contrast between the ‘steady’ past and the ‘tentative’ present, as represented in the ‘steps’. The abrupt end to the sentence mid-line also shows the fleeting nature of the couple’s relationship. The rug’s diction of ‘st’ and soft sounds in ‘steady’, ‘strode’, ‘steps’, ‘street’, and ‘stronger’ reflect the footsteps and their sound that the rug has experienced. However, the rug is now reduced to mere collection of ‘jute and wool’, instead of a proper rug.
The next three stanzas of the poem focus mainly on the mental aspects of the ex-occupants and their relationship. The wall explain how the couple had ‘their vision’ once, and that it was ‘glad’ further shows a close link between house and tenants. The decay of the relationship is compared to the ‘flaking’ and ‘peeling’ of the paint on the walls. The wall’s question accentuates the association between the house and the couple.
Next, a clock explains the broken relationship and the reflection of that on itself. The diction of hard sounds like ‘climactial’, ‘cough’, and ‘cautious’ show the ticking voice of a clock. There is a reversal of syntax in ‘so does not time’. The ‘so’ is a reference to time not repeating, which reflects the clock’s desire to turn back time. The caesura in ‘But the works are rusted,’ show the stopping of the clock and its becoming ‘dumb’.
The mirror again narrates, the stanza’s beginning mirroring the first stanza’s. However, in this stanza it is concerned mainly with the reason the couple ended their relationship. Its reflective nature is shown when it ponders the ex-occupants’ coming and going. However, it is powerless to know the intentions or ‘reasons for departure’, since it only sees the ‘outer semblance’. It only ‘sees’, and does not ‘know’. This is an ironic reference to ‘household gods’ who are supposed to be aware of the occupants’ intentions.
The last two stanzas form the third division of the poem, where seemingly the house itself narrates, concentrating on the fate of the house and its periphery. The first stanza describes the desolation and meaninglessness of the household items. The soft sibilance of ‘Dustsettles in the fireplace’ emphasises the fineness of the dust, and the run-on line of ‘curtains / Hang[ing]’ accentuates the sense of hanging ‘without a purpose’. While the household items are organised, the house’s use of ‘over-nicely’ suggests resentment over its arrangement in the ‘cold’ house.
The house goes on to speak collectively for the household items with the use of both singular and plural first person. The short ‘I see no more.’ Suggests a finality with the situation. The house mournfully shows that the link between the ‘household gods’ and the ex-occupants (and their relationship) was so strong that the couple’s ‘life gave our lives meaning’ and that the breaking of ‘homes’ and ‘their parting’ led to a much more serious effect on the ‘household gods’: they were ‘dissolved’ and slain, ironic because gods are meant to live forever.
Through the use of different voices coming from different household items, the selection of diction metaphors and other devices to suit each ‘household god’s’ voice, Hobsbaum creates a near inseparable link between the concrete house and the abstract home. He shows that the former is dependent on the latter, and that when the home, the couple and the romantic relationship, is broken up, and scattered, the house will follow suit, sometimes in a way more serious than the home, that may end in its destruction and desolation.
Sample 2: Question 1a
In the poem “Household Gods”, the household and various objects within it are given voices. They are the titular “Household Gods”, representing the experiences of the household and its different aspects. They mourn their own deaths with speeches as the household breaks up after its occupants separate and leave. Through the use of personification, rhyme, punctuation, structure and diction, these speeches convey to the reader a sense of a vibrant household now lost and mournful neglect and decay it faces when the occupants leave and the household gods fade away into oblivion.
The poem’s narrative style, structure, punctuation and rhyming scheme establish the personification of the household, which remains constant throughout. The first-person narrative voice used in the poem gives it a personal touch and evokes a stronger response from us as readers as we listen to the experiences of the gods as told by themselves. The poem is separated into nine stanzas of four lines, each beginning and ending with quotation marks. This establishes the speech-like nature of the poem, with each stanza “spoken” by different household gods or together as an entity. The rhyming scheme serves to delineate the difference between the gods’ speeches as individuals and as a group entity. In the first, eighth and ninth stanzas, the second and fourth lines rhyme, and these stanzas are “spoken” by the gods as a group. When they speak as individuals, such as in stanzas two to seven, the first and third lines rhyme as well as the second and fourth. Thus, the narrative voice, rhyme and structure establish the personal-speech like qualities of the poem, allowing it to recount the household experience in a personal evocative manner.
The first stanza is spoken by the household as a whole and it establishes its position as an omnipresent observer within the house, tirelessly watching the inhabitants’ experiences. “I saw them. I was there.” The pause in the middle of the last line adds to the emphasis on the gods’ presence; especially when spoken aloud. The tone of the poem is also introduced as mournful in this stanza, with the use of words such as “breaking lives”, “pale”, and “distraught” and “despair”. We as readers are introduced to the plot of the poem as well, as we learn of “their breaking lives”, which is mirrored by the household foreshadowing the occupants’ breakup and departure which will result in the silencing of the household gods.
The second and third stanzas are spoken by individual objects within the house, and they recollect the pleasant past and juxtapose it to their dreary and mournful present to evoke a sense of sympathy and loss within the reader. The speaker of the second stanza is an object the female occupant owns, possibly a musical instrument like a harp. It mourns its disuse, stating that “I have so long been silent” that it “hardly at all remember[s] how her slim long fingers once caressed [it]”. It also alludes to the state of the occupants’ relationship before as being quite intimate as “at one time she touched him”. The third stanza is spoken by a possession of the male occupant, probably the husband. It recalls a pleasure past, when “his lips on mine … after a happy embrace, warmed my clay”. This god is a piece of pottery, and most likely a favorite cup that the occupant once owned. In contrast with its recollections in the first two lines, the second half of the stanza reinforces the poem’s tone of mournful neglect. The “kiss” and affection in the household is like the cup itself, “broken and swept away”, long gone and soon to be forgotten after disuse.
The fourth and fifth stanzas repeat the pattern of recollection of pleasant past and observation of the painful present to convey the feeling of a household abandoned and neglected. The speaker of the third stanza, a carpet, recalls “their steady feet” and juxtaposes it to the “tentative” steps taken now. In the past, there was a strong sense of life and purpose as the occupants’ relationship was well but now as they break-up, even their footsteps are weaker. This draining of vitality and purpose affects even the carpet, which is a mere “street” for the “strangers” the couple have become, and it is reduced to lifeless “jute and wool” instead of a carpet. The god in the firth stanza, presumably a room or the house also reflects on the state of abandonment that correlates to the occupant’s relationship. Once it was lavished with care and was “made … in terms of their vision” and the room felt cared for, emphasized by the caesura before its setting “I was glad”. Now however, its paint is flaking and “walls are peeling”, sure signs of neglect as a house is doomed to decay when its “occupants are fled”.
The sixth and seventh stanzas no longer speak of their past, but focus more on their roles and the present, resulting in greater emphasis on the present neglect and breakup. The sixth stanza is spoken by a clock, whose “hands repeat themselves”, referring to a clock’s hands. As befits a clock, it muses about the nature of time, which never repeats (unlike its hands) and once “the climactial moment is past”, will never recur again, no matter “whoever will come”. This is a reference perhaps to the heyday of the household, its “climactial moment”, which is now past and lost forever. The clock then reminds the reader of the present neglect, as its “works are rusted” and the clock is “dumb”, unable to “cough one more chime”. Its silence further reinforces the poem’s atmosphere of death as the household loses its vitality and purpose. The seventh stanza begins in manner similar to the first, but is actually spoken by an individual household object/god. Here, it is literally a mirror, which “mirrored their coming” and is only concerned with “their outer semblance” and knows nothing of the couple’s motives., as mirrors deal only with surface reflections. This repetition of the first stanza serves as a point of closure in that the occupants have left for good, and thus the household is left to itself, to decay and the household gods to vanish.
The eighth and ninth stanzas are spoken as a group entity of household gods and concludes the poem with their death as all life is gone from the household since it falls into abuse. The eighth stanza is an observation of the status of the household as a whole, emphasizing its sterile, corpse-like nature. There is “abuse” and neglect, and a lack of purpose as the furniture is “grouped over-nicely” and never to be used. The final three words “house grown cold” is a metaphor comparing the house to a cooling corpse, devoid of life and purpose and slowly decaying, just as the house is doing. The ninth stanza reiterates the meaning of the poem and finalizes the household gods’ deaths. As household objects, they were defined by their use, and the occupants’“life gave our lives meaning”. Yet as the individual speeches have shown, the pleasant past is gone and there is only the harsh present, with no possible return as “broken homes will not set again”. The finality of the household gods’ death is expressed in the last line, in that “they will never know their household gods are slain”, meaning that even memories or thoughts of the household are consigned to oblivion.
By creating a poem composed of last speeches made by dying and fading household gods, Philip Hobsbaum allows us readers to feel acutely the mournful loss of vitality and purpose when a household breaks up. The abandonment of home is no longer merely a process, but rather the death of the home itself, carrying with it all the connotations of grief that death brings to mind. By inference, this means that the bonds of a relationship must be powerful indeed if they are to make a home, for in their dissolution, even gods are slain.
Sample 1: Question 1 (b)
This passage, from C.S. Lewis’Voyage to Venus, details a man’s journey through the dark woods to a friend’s house. Although it seems to be a journey he has taken before, the man is gripped by an overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety; the ominous atmosphere of his surroundings forces him to struggle with the alarming unfamiliarity of the place and the knowledge that he must reach his destination, causing him to vacillate wildly between his adult reason of achieving his purpose and his childish instinct to give in to his fears and flee. Lewis skillfully conveys the intensity of the man’s internal conflict, illustrating the significance of the experience through a variety of literary techniques.
The passage begins as the traveler reaches a recognizable landmark en route to the cottage. With “at last”, Lewis conveys the man’s relief at having reached “the crossroads by the little Wesleyan chapel”, and hints, by suggesting that the man had been looking forward to reaching this spot, of the dreary, dreadful nature of his journey. The first person narration, with the frequent use of “I”, immediately invites the reader to share the traveler’s experience, to empathize with him as his difficult journey continues, thus enhancing the intensity of his inner turmoil. The use of expectant phrases, such as “had to”, is the first indication of the man’s reason. He realizes that there is a series of steps and methods to reach his destination – first he must come to “the crossroads”, then he had to “turn to the left under the beech trees”. This strain of thinking is continued in the next line, as he logically concludes that he “ought to” be seeing the light’s of Ransom’s cottage. With a dash after this reasoned assumption, a sense of uncertainty is introduced. The dash serves as a pause in the man’s reasoned thinking, and the question that follows is evidence of a doubt about the truth of his assertions.