THE NOISE THAT THE HOUSE MADE- CORAL HULL.
I have decided to comment on ‘The Noise That the House Made’ by Coral Hull because of its ability to evoke such an unnerving response in the reader. The poem describes experience with severe family difficulties and a challenging upbringing. The poem sheds light on problematic issues that contributed to such a detrimental household, such as violence, alcoholism, mental and physical strain. Hull’s poem adopts an unusual structure. With no obvious rhythm or metre, it could be considered free verse poetry. What is particularly interesting about this piece is that that reader is given no indication of how exactly it is supposed to flow, due to absence of any punctuation. Every line seems like a burst of separate unique thought- a sentence that appears completely unrelated to the previous, but each uses rich description to demonstrate differing aspects of such emotional torment. Hull’s incredible use of language causes the reader to be engaged until the last word of the final verse. Many of the descriptions used throughout the poem are very ambiguous, and I think will only be fully understood by the author; however the reader is left with descriptions that encourage individual interpretation and are much more enlivening than ordinary language. Metaphor gives the audience an insight into the gradual breakdown of the marriage, for example: ‘As she hack sawed their marital bed in two.’ Strong use of simile is used throughout the piece, usually to portray the instigation of violence, such as ‘Children’s heads collided and cracked like thunder,’ ‘Until I jogged like a ragged doll in her skinny white arms.’ ‘Children hit the floorboards like stones.’ And finally, the poem ends with the most heartbreaking simile: ‘{the father] cried in the backyard sandpit like a child witnessed by no one.’