Anglaise

Flat
Pleated
 Old
Crinkled
Hunched
Unthinkable
 Awful
Bun
Broderie
 MATCH THE STANZAS WITH THE CORRECT MEANING
Stanza 1
My small grandmother is tall
there,
Straight –back, white broderie
anglaise shirt, pleated skirt, flat
shoes, grey bun,
a kind, old smile round her eyes
big hands holds mine,
white hand in black hand.
Her sharp blue eyes look her
own death in the eye.
Stanza 2
It was true after all that look.
My tall grandmother became
small.
Her back round and hunched.
Her soup forgot to boil.
She went to the awful place
grandmothers go. . Somewhere
unknown, unthinkable
Meaning
Grandmother has sharp blue eyes and they seem
to look at death without fear. This reveals that
grandmother is growing old and death is
unavoidable.
My grandmother looks tall in the photograph.
Grandmother wears a white embroidered shirt, a
pleated skirt and flat shoes. Her hair is tied up in a
bun.
Grandmother is holding the grandchild’s white
hand in her black one. This tells us that the
grandchild may be of mixed parentage.
White hand represents the poet's youth, purity,
and innocence. Black hand represents that the
grandmother is experienced. An old soul who has
been through a lot in life.
Grandmother’s eyes look kind.
Meaning
Grandmother became shorter as her back grew
bent with age.
The soup that did not boil reveals that the
grandmother became forgetful and senile
Grandmother died. Death is described as an ‘awful’,
‘unknown’ and ‘unthinkable’ place. This is clearly a
child’s view point.
The look on grandmother’s face that she was
expecting death was true.
 Stanza 3 Meaning

The memory of his/ her grandmother is still fresh

But there she is still, and new.

The word ‘there’ refers to the old photograph

in the photo with me at three, taken with the grandmother when the persona
was three years old.

the crinkled smile is still living, To the grandchild, the grandmother looks alive in
breathing. the photograph.