Week #3 - Sign Inventory

Sign Inventory for Robert Lowell’s “Father’s Bedroom”

The first half of the poem catalogs articles and furnishings as if the speaker is taking an inventory of some kind. It is sparingly descriptive suggesting a kind of Spartan simplicity; but the second half describes a hardier character to the book since it has been “punished.”

The color “blue” is mentioned four times and lends a melancholy aura to the poem. White and olive are the only other colors mentioned. Line two, “blue threads as thin as pen-writing on the bedspread” denotes the delicate handiwork of Oriental women. It stands in stark contrast to “was punished like a rhinoceros hide” in line sixteen.

The Chinese sandals and reference to the Yangtze River in China contrast the kimono and book title about Japan. The father’s mother may have been Japanese or partial to Japan as reflected in the furnishings and book, but her son went to China instead, or perhaps also.

The word “unfamiliar” in the book’s title is not capitalized as it should be, as if to emphasize that Japan is/was more unfamiliar to the speaker’s father than China. It invites the question as to why

Modifiers like “broad-planked,” “sandpapered,” “punished,” and “rhinoceros hide” give off a macho quality to the tone of the poem, as does “hard usage.” Other words, like “thin,” “dots,” “plush,” and “doily” lend a feminine tone.

The implication of the inscription seems to be that the speaker’s father spent some time in China and not Japan, as his mother had intended by giving him the book. One wonders why he felt the need to write an explanation for its condition.

The poem acts like a porthole through which the speaker views his father’s bedroom and its contents. It reflects the son’s curiosity about his father’s life and the association of his belongings with his travels or work. The contrast between the “neatness” of the room and the battered book implies that his father brought the Asian cultures home with him because he felt more at home with them.

The use of colons gives the impression of “showing” and not just telling.

Enjambment reinforces the “list” character of all the articles being presented.