Hauntingly Beautiful Poem, Poet Judith

¶ … hauntingly beautiful poem, poet Judith Wright presents many intriguing images via her narrative which seems to describe how marriage begins as a "heartfelt game" and evolves into a type of drudgery, in this case, keeping a house clean, cooking food and washing dishes for years on end until the process of housekeeping turns into a hunger for the simplicity of the past.

First of all, Wright's "game" obviously began a long time ago, perhaps when someone married at a young age during Victorian times in England when women were seen as mere housekeepers and baby machines instead of real people with emotional and mental power and influence (in fact, Wright was born when Victorian society was nearing its end). The object of the poem is apparently a woman who polished, cooked, sewed and mended as a housewife and mother. Part of her daily routine included moving "between sink and stove" (line 3), meaning that she moved from cooking at the stove to the kitchen sink to prepare vegetables or some other foodstuffs for dinner or supper. This entire action is also "contrived," meaning that the woman in question no longer has to think about the task at hand; it is now commonplace and redundant.

However, during the early days of her housekeeping, the woman apparently loved what she was doing and at times found some form of excitement in her work, for "merely living kept the blood alive" (line 5). But now in her old age perhaps, this movement between the stove and the sink is an "old habit" as is keeping her household clean so that it remains looking like a real home, all tidy with everything in its place. The woman also seems to be expecting company, perhaps her children or grandchildren, "the calm return," line 9) who often remind her that "this was a game, when it began" (line 10), being her duties in the kitchen and in the house itself.