"Thief by Alice Major

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have made the others in this house

 

 

 

more careful. Locks drilled

 

 

 

_____In doors. Boards nailed

 

 

 

to basement windows.

 

 

 

_____The cats [puncture] cautious ears

 

 

 

at the covert crumble of leves

 

 

 

_____in the outer dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You pawed the intimate clinging

 

 

 

confusion of drawers. Your breath

 

 

 

mingled with the potpourri that scents

 

 

 

my shelves. All the time, your face

 

 

 

in shadow. Your hands, hasty, random

 

 

 

stupid for what they take

 

 

 

_____and what they leave behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But you will not make me take

 

 

 

precautions. I know your face too well.

 

 

 

You are the thief who, one day, will

 

 

 

_____seize all

 

 

 

that I hold precious. You will come

 

 

 

again, lock-breaker, thug with thick fingers.

 

 

 

No care that I can take, no shutter

 

 

 

on my heart, can keep you out. I know

 

 

 

the scythe-curve of your shadow

 

 

 

--------on the wall."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* The _____ means blank spaces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is supposed to be a meaning as why the poem is spaced out wierd. If u got an idea why that is, please tell me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK ... What do you think the poem's meaning is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My opinion is that the writer is talking about someone that she's in love with and that person cheated on her before, and now she's afraid that her lover will cheat again, yet there's nothing she can do about it because she's in love with him. "No care that I can take, no shutter

 

 

 

on my heart, can keep you out"

 

 

 

By the line "Your hands hasty, random, stupid for what they take and what they leave behind" ...i think it means that she thinks she's better than the other woman her lover cheated on her with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you find any poetic devices (metaphors, personification or anythin else) PLEASE let me know ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if the poem is about love, then what's going on with her drilling locks in doors, and boards nailed to basement windows...? Would that be herself isolating from everything else?

This whole poem reeks of enjambment, though I'm not sure why it was employed--usually that's to either speed up the flow of the poem, or to crete a feeling of Time; I don't see that here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a load of alliteration, which, in each case is to emphasise the more important words... for example, the cat..cautious..covert bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "scythe-curve" image is probably there to remind you of the stooping posture of the thief as he sneaks around. I don't know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's spaced out like that (I would assume) because it draws special attention to the lines that are indented. In the second stanza, where it says "and what they leave behind", the indentation is probably there to imply a pause in the speech; the speaker thinks that bit is particularly important. Also, this spacing stops the poem from developting too much of a rhythm, which is probably deliberate; meant to keep the reader on their toes, like the person wary of the thief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I say, I don't know.

Im thinking shes talking about death.

 

 

 

Scythe-Grim reaper

 

 

 

One day will sieze all i hold precisous-her life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shes fighting death. Death is outside her house.

the ________ spaces are just there so the poem is kept in rythm. try reading it without pausing at the blank spaces, the poem will sound weird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i also think that she is talking about death. the author says that people dont take risks and dont live life to the fullest because of their fear of death. however, she will live life how she wants to because she knows that death is inevitable.

it could be death but she says

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Your breath mingled with the potpourri that scents my shelves"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potpourri is like flowers smell...not very death-like...is it?

the smell of death and decay is often described as sweet (rotten-sweet if you know what i mean) in literature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there are other examples that point to death too in the poem. just do some analyzing on ur own and ull figure em out.

i didnt undestand the popouri part either. I checked the net and it said it was mix of stuff that people made so they would smell their reeking selves in the Middle Ages or so. That might be the answer though. Bodies reek after the death (But why would it be on the shelves).

Wat do u think of when reading only the parts after the _______ ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâôs?

 

 

 

I think those are the parts meant 2 be stressed.

 

 

 

Like: in the outer dark => might mean that she is protecting from something evil out there that frightens her quite a bit.

 

 

 

Sure, shes talking bout a thief. I think its only symbolizing sumthing else =)

thnx guys ... any more input would be greatly appreciated :D

Ill ask my english pro.

Ill ask my english pro.

 

 

 

aight my assignment is due tommrow so im fk3d

the spaces are a form of a "caesura", or simply a pause, and are used to give it rhythm (like previously stated) or to emphasize something

Careful; caesurae are in the middle of verses, whereas these pauses are at the beginning.

I would say that shes talking about not being "afraid" to die. (But you will not make me take precautions...)

 

 

 

And maybe that she knows that death is unavoidable. "You are a thief that will seize all" Even her life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"All the time, your face in shadow" The grim reaper is often described as a a skeleton with a cloak that shades hes face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "You have made the others in this house more careful" part could be that someone has had an accident and everyone around her is afraid that it might happen to them.