Why is marriage not like a house or a tent?
HABITATION
by Margaret Atwood
Marriage is not
a house or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn
the edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far
we are learning to make fire
Questions:
- Read the poem 3 times, then explain what you think it might mean.
- Why is marriage not like a house or a tent?
- Why is marriage colder?
- What is the importance of “the unpainted stairs”?
- Why the “receding glacier”?
- What is mean by “learning to make fire”?
- Express what you think about the poem after your analysis.