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The Poem
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll
And by its side a shoe.
The persona is questioning her mother about the mysterious and sudden
disappearance of Lulu. An old rag doll and a shoe was left
behind
Stanza 2
The persona saw that the windows are wide opened and the curtains are
"flapping free" in the wind. The persona also notice her money-box on the dusty shelf is
gone.
Stanza 3
The persona asks the mother why she is hiding her tears. The mother crumples
up a note (most probably from Lulu) and throws it into the fire. Mother then tells her child
that it is nothing at all. The persona does not believe her.
Stanza 4
The persona tells that she was awakened by "voices late last night" and heard
the sounds of an "engine roar", probably a car starting up and being driven away. The
mother lies that the child was only dreaming.
Stanza 5
The persona insists that she had heard someone cry "in anger or in pain". The
Stanza 6
Puzzled about the mother's distraught behavior, the narrator wants to know why
the mother is pacing about, uncertain what to do. The use of "Lu" is an affectionate
shortened form of "Lulu
Subject matter
It is a poem told in a childs voice about his older sister running away.
A child is asking his mother what has happened to his sister, Lulu. There is nothing in
her room, and her money-box has gone, with only an open window and an old rag-
doll left behind. His mother is crying and burning a note. He thinks he heard voices
and a car in the middle of the night, but his mother tells him he was only dreaming.
Imagery
The image of the abandoned bed is the main one, described by the child narrator.
The inclusion of childhood objects such as a rag-doll and a money-box emphasise
the youth and innocence of the run-away Lulu. They are contrasted with the roar of
the car engine heard in the night and the grown-up world that the narrator does not
understand, emphasised by the constant questions. The curtain can be seen as a
metaphor for Lulus new freedom, contrasted by the dust on the shelf that represents
her previous life.
Sound
The doubling of the sound in Lulu, together with the high level of repetition of both
the name and its shortening in the poem, create a strong echo of the sound which
is also the rhymed sound in the first and last stanza. This is quite a childish sound,
and helps to create the plaintive note in the childs questioning.
It deals with themes of grief and love. The mother is grieving over her lost child. The
fact that the child has run away does not make the grief less significant. The
confusion of the narrator about his or her parents reaction also tells us something
about the nature of grief.The poem also considers how we deal with children, in
dismissing what they have heard or seen. The child narrator has some valid
knowledge of what has happened, but his mother tells him he dreamed it. The poem
raises the question of how the child can react, when he has been told nothing is the
matter, when clearly it is. Ironically the mother does not know what to do, as the final
stanza makes clear.
Setting
Place
Probably in England as the word "money-box" is a typical British word.
Lulu's room
The fireplace
Time
In the past
Themes
1. The end of childhood and the loss of innocence
Lulu is probably a young teenager.
She ran away based on the note that her mother crumpled.
She took her savings "money-box" to start a new life with a man who drove
her off in a "engine roar".
She left her childhood behind.
2. Parent-child relationship
The mother and Lulu relationship could have been a tense and strained one.
Lulu is a rebellious teenager.
She dislikes her mother's restrictions on her freedom and emerging interest in
the opposite sex.
She keeps secrets from her mother.
The mother and narrator relationship is less dramatic.
The narrator is obedient and respectful to the mother.
The narrator loves the mother very much and observe her pain and distress.
3. Grief and love
The mother is grieving over the loss of her child, Lulu.
The mother clearly loves Lulu.
The narrator loves the sister as she called her by pet name "Lu".
The narrator is worried about the sudden disappearance of the elder sister