Good day Everyone,
We are going to look at the poem 'Light in the Attic' by Shel Silverstein. I know that on googling, you found that one of the analysis says the attic represents our brain. I want you to go beyond that. Start thinking about what does the house represent and what is the significant of the contrasting setting of the indoor and outdoor?
I think that the house represents the persona as a person, and the attic represents his soul. It was mentioned that ‘thought the house is dark and shuttered’, if the house represents the persona as a person, this means that the person is a broken and a very closed person. However, ‘I can see a flickerin' flutter,’ indicates that there is still some hope to heal from the brokenness since there is a little light flickering (chance/hope) that can be seen. ‘There's a light on in the attic. I can see it from the outside.’ Here I think the persona realize that he still have the chance or hope of healing inside of him from the brokenness perhaps caused by people around him, that makes him a closed person. From the line ‘And I know you're on the inside... lookin' out.’ Indicates that he, himself on the inside knew that he had been wanting to heal.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the contrast of ‘indoor and outdoor’ used in this poem symbolizes the self we project to the world and the self that only we know exist, our inner self. This is because it is hard to be ourselves in this world full of judgement. Just like the persona, it might be hard for him to heal, maybe because he is afraid of others perspective towards him, or what others did to him traumatized him.
Great job Iqwan. Maybe one day when we have in person class, I would like to have longer conversations with you and find out how you get to see the things that you see in all the assigned poems :)
DeleteHye Iqy, just wanna say that I have never though of the usage of inside and outside in that kind of way to be honest and when you said it, I agree with you. There's a Japanese saying that goes like "All humans have 3 masks, 1 in which they show to everyone, 1 they show to those who are really close to them and the last one is the one that the persona is talking about where he has never shown to anyone except for himself, his trueself that seeks for freedom from his dark mind.
DeleteSuhail, I actually saw that quote in a TV series! But instead of masks, they used "hearts" for the lines :)
Deletehonestly I can't think of what the attic represents after I read others' interpretation of it but I like how Iqwan and Yassin explained their thoughts on it. In a way i think, the persona is just a stranger and he's talking about other person who is very "dark" outside but actually very nice inside, if only you are close with that person? if you get what i mean
DeleteHello Iqy, it's like we had the same mind because I also had the exact same interpretation as yours when I read the poem. I can't help but think how the it represents one self. especially the attic where it is hidden, it is same as our inner self, the self that we hide from other people.
DeleteElleanna 203254
I agree with what Iqwan said about the house represents the persona as a person meanwhile the attic may represent his soul or mind. The phrase dark and shuttered house can be referred to his physical and also his spiritual state. We can infer that from the context of physical side, the persona looks empty, lost and even have this negative aura surrounding him and makes him looks dark and hindered from people (shuttered). This can also related to his spiritual state where dark means it is an empty soul coated in dark and shuttered from accepting others into his life.
ReplyDeleteFlickerin' flutter of the light can be the hope for the persona to crawl out of his agony. As flickering can be like a dim light but it is enough to illuminate the dark side of his house and this is the proof that the persona can slowly recovering himself into a better shape.
'I can see it from the outside', many people think that the person from the outside can be a passerby or someone else but here if we look closer, why would a stranger pay a lot of attention to the persona as we know that he is 'shuttered' from other. The person outside can be the persona himself who's looking inside of him and notice that there is a little hope 'flickerin' flutter' for him to a better life.
And the significance of contrasting inside and outside setting can be a complement of each side of the persona's life. From the outside 'physical' the persona can have a look of what it is inside of his soul and able to solve issue that may arise inside 'I can see a flickerin' flutter' shows that the persona is care about the need and condition of his spiritual state. And from the inside the persona may look what has become to his physical as the soul gets darker and made him shuttered from others.
Hi Yassin, I really like your explanation of this poem. But personally, I have a different view of what the attic represents. I think it represent a dark secret that the persona's family have. "There's a light on in the attic" maybe indicates that someone outside of the family/stranger might has discovered the family secret? I think this poem is trying to portray that the persona know that his/her family's secret has been exposed by the person who is in the attic.
DeleteNot me thinking about SKY Castle while reading lmaooo. Btw that's actually something to ponder upon too. It could very well speaks upon the society state that we have today, or let's say it ahs always been like this since the beginning of time. It could be a dark secret of that family but it could also be something that is perceived to be a "dark secret" due to certain assumptions and chain of events which might as well hint upon that. If we were to expand on that, it could also be interpreted as the very mind that is being whispered with the feelings of curiosity that stems upon a negative intention. If that family really does have dark secrets, count me in for some FBI thingies 'cause i'm all for that adventures ;)
DeleteFirdaus,
DeleteRather than Sky Castle, perhaps look into Flowers in the Attic?
On it skjsksjkjs
DeleteHi Madam,
ReplyDeleteI have 2 interpretation in reading this poem, it is because when I read once I only have one interpretation, but when I read it again, I have another interpretation .
This is the 1st interpretation I have:
A light in the Attic, reading the title itself made me gave me a lot of curiosity. As I was reading the poem, I was imagining the persona on a walk and found a dark house. He stood in-front of he house and observed the house carefully. The dark house symbolises the persona himself (I agree with Iqy). In my opinion the word light symbolises hope. However the ‘light in the attic’ gave me and insight that the hope is vague, unclear and mysterious. To me, the persona is trying to change or trying to wake up from the darkness which can be seen in line 2 ‘thought the house is dark and shuttered’. He suddenly feels that he is beginning to live and found himself which then he was having a small hope which he says ‘ I can see a flickerin’ flutter,’ Even if it is small (flickerin fluttering) there is still a light and hope that warms him. Only he knows what he is going through because only he witness and experienced the darkness ( and I know what it’s about). ‘I can see it from the outside. And I know you’re inside lookin out.’’ the persona could see himself in house with with a light or with hope to live. But what questioned me was, why did he not enter the house, like why did he not obtain the hope?
This is the second interpretation:
The house symbolises his friend who is in the dark that need support and help. He was trying to support his friend and land his hand to help which then he could see a light (hope) in his friend. “I can see a flickerin’ flutter” The hope was very helpless and needs to be supported, his friend or the insider needs to reach out for the outsider and pull him or herself from the darkness. ‘I know what it’s about’ the persona is telling to the insider to open up to me even though he did not experience the darkness but he wanted to help. ‘There’s a light in the attic’ when the insider opens up and reach out for someone, she or he gain hope and spirit to rise up. ‘ I can see it from the outside’ The persona believes he sees a hope and a chance in the insider’s self to change and have a better life. ‘And I know you’re on the inside lookin out’ The persona believe the insider also want to change which why the insider is looking from inside and wait for help.
That’s all from me, sorry if it did not make sense :(
Do not apologize. We'll just wait and see if there are other people who would share your insights.
DeleteHye Maira, your second interpretation was actually my first thought on this poem when I read the poem the other day but rather than a friend I think that it was more than a friend, a lover perhaps or maybe someone that catches the persona's eyes, a girl that is at her lowest but the persona came to her and save her from her dark and shuttered body (the house) which explains why there was a sudden flickerin flutter because the persona came to the rescue. For me, A light on the Attic and the flickerin flutter is actually two different lights, There's a light on in the attic means that theres a light that lead the persona to the girl while the flickerin flutter of light is the presence of the persona in the girl's life. This is because of the last two sentences actually because the persona is outside of the dark and shuttered house from my point of view means that he saw her at his lowest and her presence catches his eye but first he needs to save her from that state. AS for the last line, And I know youre on the inside, lookin out basically means there's still hope in that girl's state of mind and theres still space in her heart but its going to be difficult.
DeleteHye Madam, I too have two interpretations from my readings before I google it.
ReplyDeleteThe first interpretation is in my comment on Maira's reply
The second interpretation on the other hand is about death. Before our soul is being pulled out of our body, people said that our beautiful memories during our lifetime will flash upon us which explain why there was a light on in the attic, it may mean two thing whether there was a significant experience when the persona was a child or the light was actually the flashbacks itself. House is dark and shuttered means that theres no sign of hope to live for another day and flickerin' flutter means that the light bulb needs to be changed, but if we remove it, his life is going to end but like it or not it need to be changed because when a light flickers, the only way to fix it is to change the bulb. The next line "And I know what it's about" indicate that he realy do need to change the bulb so it can mean that he is not ready to be reincarnated yet. The second "There's a light on in the attic" may indicate the most precious moment of his life just flashed through before he changed the bulb. "I can see it from the outside" may mean that he had just changed the bulb and is now reincarnated as someone new but before he went to that new life he saw his old life. "And I know youre on the inside.. lookin' out", that "YOU" can mean a lot of thing but for me, it means that it may indicate that Death is staring at him inside that old body of himself (and perhaps maybe is wishing goodluck in the next life which is why that "you" is looking out of the house hahaha).
This is my 2cents on the poem, sorry if it doesnt make any sense but it is how i understood it when i first read about it.
Hi Suhail,
DeleteYou do go into spaces where I need a gargantuan light bulb to bring me to the spaces you are in.
Ha..ha...
and I'm still searching for the light of your many light bulbs. :)
I think the house is a combination of everything the persona is – his/her character, thoughts, feelings, experiences, preferences etc. And the attic represents his/her memories, or his dreams and a true purpose. The house is dark and shuttered, which means the persona is in a bad place, and has isolated himself from everything around him. However, there’s a light in the attic. The persona, in this predicament and chaos, notices the light – what makes him truly happy, or what forms his essence and being.
ReplyDeleteBetween indoors and outdoors, my interpretation is that the persona looks at himself and his mental/energetical state (the house) in different perspectives. The inside is dark, which means that he is unable to see who he truly is when he is occupied with troubles and bad thoughts. “I can see it from the outside” – once the persona steps back and looks at his situation from an outsider’s perspective, or becomes calmer in introspection (looking into himself/the house), he is able to notice something he missed out on. When he observes himself from “outdoors”, he clearly sees the “light”. The “light”, representing his happy memories and purpose has shone through, and he is on a new direction searching for himself.
“And I know you’re on the inside… lookin’ out” means that while he was in a dark place, his subconscious was telling him to change how he views himself and the world. Instead of wallowing in the house, step out and look inside – and there’s a light. I’d like to relate this to mindfulness. Throughout the poem, I see some phrases and words being repeated: “there’s a light on”, “I can see”, “and I know”. This emphasises on what the persona IS experiencing, in the moment. Mindfulness also means to be aware of the surroundings in the present, and the present is all that matters. I think this is a great way to keep yourself calm and focusing on who you are in the “now”.
Great insights Qing Yi. :)
DeleteIzza Khaleda (200552)
ReplyDeleteFor this particular poem, I think my interpretation is slightly the same with some of them. When I first read the poem, I understand that the house actually represents a broken soul of the persona. The use of the words dark and shuttered really portrays a strong effect on how broken the persona is. From my point of view, a house is also a shelter, so I think the broken persona keeps himself from the outsiders by the concrete wall of the house that makes him feels secured and safe. He is also not opened to everyone thus making the use of the word shuttered in the second line more remarkable. This is simply because of his fear, dark past or trauma that still cannot be conquered by him.
However in the first line, ‘There’s a light on the attic’ is somehow saying that there’s still a chance or hope for the persona to heal, even if it’s impossible to make it happen (I see a flickerin’ flutter). The next line, ‘And I know what it’s about’ then tells us that the persona is facing the problem alone and keeping all that within himself. Maybe he knows what he need to do, but the staticity of himself (as a dark and shuttered house) is keeping him from moving forward to change and become better.
The last three lines of this poem tell us the view on the outside of the house (I can see it from the outside). I think this part can be seen as the view of the persona himself (maybe in his darkness he still thinks of the hope of healing) and also the view of the others who know and love him in their life. For the last line, I think if we see it from the view of the persona, he must be fighting with his inner demons to heal himself, while if we see it from the perspective of the other people, they definitely feel sympathy towards him and hope that he’ll get himself together and be more opened to them.
Hello everyone! I’m still unable to move on from the previous discussion on love story in Like This Together and turns out it has been brought here as I’m seeing the light in the attic as a poem related to a relationship but it’s more to a love hate relationship. It could be with your lover, friends or family members.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the house represents the person the persona is dealing with while the attic represents anger or hatred. As how everyone should perceive it, light here could represent affection or forgiveness of a mother.
In my opinion, the persona is having a serious and big issue with his/ her mother which has caused brokenness in the mother’s motherly love and affection towards the son/daughter. So, from the untold incident that has happened, the persona still can see that even no matter how broken and disappointed the mother might feel on him/her, she is still hoping that their family (son-mother) relationship could get better and recover to what it used to be before the fight again. The line “though the house is dark and shuttered” shows despite the madness and agony the mother has endured due to the issue she had with the persona, but the sacred love she has towards the persona is still sparkling as the persona could see it “i can see the flickering shutter”. It could be from the mother’s treatment or speech that has proven it or the persona’s special instinct as a son/daughter which says that the mother is still loving him/her.
Lastly, the contrast “indoor and outdoor” used in this poem just simply symbolize feelings of the mother as the persona could see from how the mother unspoken action of how she from the inside is rooting to forgive her son/daughter at any times soon but waiting for him/her to lower the undeserving ego to beg for it first from the last phrase “looking out”.
Fareez Irfan 202694
Hi Madam, for this poem the light in the attic by Shel Silverstein. I think some of the poem that is in the book have silly caricatures and sophisticated wordplay, however I personally think that Silverstein dared adults and children to confront with humor everyday issues like greed, shame, chores no one wants to do, homework, line-jumpers, and cannibalistic aunt eaters. Tethered to the ridiculous, the poems are grounded to a fundamental moral code that encourages generosity and self-exploration.
ReplyDeleteFor both child and parent, Silverstein’s poems brokered common ground between the adult and adolescent worlds, where parents and children could find humor in universal human faults and inspiration in the silly.
When I first read the poem, my thought about the contrast of outdoor and indoor is about someone who is trapped in a house and is looking out for someone to save him or her. I imagine the house as a person who is going through tough things that make him physically and mentally wounded. But there is hope and the person wishes to be set free and waiting for someone to offer a hand. The persona who is the other person, is someone who notices the suffering of that person (the house) but is still contemplating whether the persona should offer help or just stand where he is. The line “And I know you’re on the inside… lookin’ out” portrays that that wounded person is trying to beg for help from the persona, you know I think he or she was like “look at me, please come and save me”. The person needs to have someone that can protect and save her/him from the suffering. That was my thought when I first read it but after reading Iqwan’s opinion, I find it more interesting tho when we see both indoor and outdoor views from the same person. And I like Suhail’s points too when he said that “All humans have 3 masks”. In the context of the poem, I think that 3 masks will be the one who is all broken, dark and suffering, the one who sees hope in himself/herself and wants to be free and the one who understands the whole situation but doesn't know what he/she should do. I think most of us can relate to this as we all have done through that moment where we feel helpless and broken. Only we can understand the hurting we’re going through but we can’t think of a way to help ourselves. Therefore, we just keep quiet and pretend that everything is okay. We are just too afraid to show our fragile side, our ugly side because we know that not everyone can accept as the world is full of judgement as what Iqwan said in his view.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think this poem reflects about the poet’s hopeful desire where he probably wants to change his life to become more positive and alive, including move forward from matters that have broken him before as a person. The first line when the poet said, “There's a light on in the attic” represents that he is conscious that there is a way for him to seek for changes in his life which comes from the light of hope that he believed. Like people always said, “we do not attract what we want, but what we are”. The next three lines where the poet said that, “Thought the house is dark and shuttered, I can see a flickerin' flutter, And I know what it's about”, indicate that even though the experience that makes him broken to pieces where he was in his dark state, not willing to seek help from others, isolate and hiding himself from the reality, he can recognize that the dark is slowly fading and now the light can be seen. Though the light is still vague and unclear, it didn’t stop him to picture things he wants to become. In the fifth line, the poet repeats the same thing as in line 1 which shows that he knows the hope that he desires is there, waiting for him as it is slowly appear. The last two lines which said that, “I can see it from the outside, And I know you're on the inside... lookin' out” portray that the poet realizes and could sense the hope that he desires do exist because as time goes by, his firmness has attracted his desire that he has assumed are meant for him.
ReplyDeleteI thought this poem was very graphic and allowed me to imagine what it would be like to be there. The casual and peaceful writing, the calm atmosphere, the feeling as if it were that of childhood, makes the reader feel harmonious and comfortable. The lights in the attic foreshadow extraordinary characters and profound stories. Come to Shel Silverstein's attic and let the light take you home.LIUXUYANG（201373）
ReplyDeleteXuyang,
DeletePerhaps you want to tell us more about Shel Silverstein's attic. I think many of us have not been there and we are curious with what we can find at the attic.
From my point of view, the house represents something vast and unknown, and the light is what we seek in the future. For the unknown future, go on, and good things will happen.
DeleteIn my opinion, there is definitely someone who is locked. Now it could be by his thoughts, imagination or even real physical lockdown. As for the house is the lock or the object that this person is trapped in and it has a one-window, which in my opinion represents the eye. The eye would take the thoughts and imagination further and further, as eyes can go beyond the horizon by sight and that would transfer the scene into thoughts therefore from my point of view: the house would represent prison or restriction something would hold the character from moving on or continue his life. As for the contrasting between the indoor and outdoor, it could be how the character sees himself
ReplyDeletefrom inside and outside, from the inside, there's the heart which's a dark place and the only way to enlighten it by using the window of the mind whereas, the outside which the physical appearance also dark as the character seems depressed and he sees himself dark and dull and the only way to see himself better by the window of the eye which's how he sees the world and how he reacts to it. HIBA JEBRINI (201714)
I also think that the house represents a person, while the attic represents a person's soul. And the lamp in the attic represents his heart. His heart was lonely, but he was looking forward to life. He closed himself in the dark, I think the flashing light represents his vitality, he is trying to rush out of the darkness, he wants to get rid of the pain, he uses the light to declare himself not to give in to the darkness, this is good!
ReplyDeleteI think this means that he has broken the shackles, his heart has broken out of the shackles of darkness. Although he stood outside, he looked back, he seemed to declare to the past self in the dark room, telling of his efforts and success. At the same time is his affirmation, he is encouraging himself, he understands his vision of the outside world, yearning for light, so he said goodbye to the past himself, told himself: I knew you were peeking, but you should come out bravely.
I think the house represents human’s heart. Sometimes, as a human being, I tend to feel empty, dark and shuttered. Maybe at that time, I feel pressured and broken, there are lots to think in my mind. This makes me feel as if I am in a dark tunnel alone, waiting for the light. However, I know, this mess will end. Deep down in my heart, I’m waiting for the light to come. I’m waiting for someone to help me. I’m waiting to be reached.
ReplyDeleteI think the setting of the indoor and outdoor is significant since ‘indoor’ might be my heart that full with darkness while ‘outdoor’ might be my friends that try to reach me out. I believe that a person can change only when he or she wants to. ‘Friends’ might only be the catalyst to change from darkness to light. But, it all starts with the one that choose to change.
“There's a light on in the attic.
I can see it from the outside.
And I know you're on the inside... lookin' out.”
These 3 lines show that the heart is trying to reach someone to be out from the darkness. -203150
ZHANG XIAOYU (201632)
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein is the book of illustrated nursery rhymes, is full of wild imagination and cute inbetweening. This book is composed of many small poems. These rational and interesting poems reveal the many embarrassing and helpless tragicomedy of life that people will experience and taste after meeting with the world, and at the same time fully present the extraordinary intelligence and open-minded and optimistic charm of a talented artist. Those poems looks like for kids, but adult also can enjoy to read them and found some life philosophy from the humor, warmth simple illustrations, and simple words as well as light irony. And I also agree Iqy’s point of view that house in the poem is represents the persona as a person, and the attic represents his soul. Author use poem to express his emotion “light in the attic” sounds like the hope in the darkness or the hope in the helpless moment, author hope those simple poem can bring some and warm to the people who are confused in their life, cure them and give them enough courage to fight with life.
Hi Xiayu,
DeleteDid you get to read the book? Wow....that's pretty amazing.
yes madam，very cute book and i like it very much.
DeleteNUR LISA QISTINA (203151)
ReplyDeleteBased on the poem 'light in the attic' from my perspective of what the house represents is lost emotions. For me I think that the house is a where we humans hide our emotions. It is as such we hide our deep an unbeareable emotions which we do not anyone to see. The light which have been said represents the sign of opening to express the emotions especially when the poem mentioned 'and I know you're on inside... lookin' out.' which means (from my perspective) a crack of opening for those hidden emotions to be let out as such as when someone tell another their pain and sorrows. To what I want to relate to this poem actually is the emotional feelings where have been trapped in the dark (the house) to be opened up by someone when the lights turned on as those emotions expose themselves from the inside out.
Hi Lisa, your opinions are really interesting as you put the focus on "emotions". I do think that there is a difference when it comes to emotions versus personality, emotions versus challenges, and so on. While the dark house and attic could “contain” or symbolise a lot of sad things, hidden emotions are a good theory! These emotions could be too deep and heavy to be revealed, or they could be feelings encountered in daily life. Maybe it could be about feelings that we think would make us appear “petty” or “unreasonable” if we spoke up. I think that letting our emotions out is a healthy thing if there is a trustworthy confidant. Hopefully the persona outside of the dark house is that friend.
DeleteIn my personal interpretation of the poem A Light in The Attic by Shel Silverstein, the idea of childhood trauma has been playing a lot in my mind when i read this poem a few times before this; the excruciating and staying pain of a child whose childhood life has been tarnished with a lot of unspeakable harshness that has made that person becoming somewhat distant to the idea of finding a happiness in their life due to the long years of hoping yet still remain there, in the place of haunting past and unsurmountable hurt. The happiness that is in this context does not apply towards the fleeting moments or any sort of temporary feelings upon the idea of "happy" since that is not what they person is looking for but instead the kind of happiness that the persona long for being something that would set them free from the tainted past which has for so long chained them, to being able to relocate their minds and soul from the torment of their past and to really embrace the beauty of life ahead of them with a new spectacle of life vision. However, this poem may not hint upon the possibility that this person has finally found the happiness that they are looking for or is there even one by the end of the tunnel (life journey). However, the existence of one's hope is hinted here. The term "light'' symbolizes happiness that the person is looking for; which is right there as they can see it but the "attic", which could symbolize the very hindrance (the main subject of the childhood's pain that has made them lost of hope) that the person had been terrorized all their life seems to be pulling and holding them back from reaching that happiness (light) to set themselves free from. the phrases "thought the house is dark and shuttered" which is followed by "i can see a flickering flutter" could be a subtle sign that the person has always been wanting to free themselves and that the hope is still there after all this time although it's very frail in nature, but would that person finally be able to enlighten the whole "house" of theirs? Only time could tell. "House" could very much being defined as the brooding dark walk of life that the person has paved themselves through. Life goes on so no matter how much life has beaten you down, you would need to stay strong and hold on to it despite the razor sharp hurt you've been experiencing.
ReplyDeleteThere's a light on the attic
I can see it from the outside
And I know you're on the inside... looking out
I believe those are the testimonies of the little hope the person harbors within them which they are still searching for. It indicates that the willingness to embrace life to the fullest is viscerally embedded within yet the finding of path towards reaching the destination is still unclear. The fact that the person has the inner wanting for it after all these years could also mean that they will not give up from finding it and if God wills upon them, they would find it eventually. I personally hope for all the broken souls entrenched within the agonies of their harsh lives would find their happiness in the end because what is life without happiness anyway.
Reading this poem it strongly reflects upon me the pain of children who grew up being the victims of domestic violence. Bad memories like this for the most part never really vanish away and may stay with you for the rest of your lives. However, it doesn't mean that giving up on your happiness is the only thing that can be done to carry on with lives without having to think about being broken by love once again. Much like this poem which has the theme of hope for a better tomorrow (happiness), i hope all of domestic violence survivors would feel such strong belief for it to happen to them as well and to look forward for a lot more of beautiful opportunities in life waiting for them ahead. That's all from me. Thank you.
From my point of view, this poem is about someone who is being trapped in a serious or huge problem. Someone who is in the attic represents a person who faces a huge problem and being trapped in it with no way out. The light in the attic symbolises hope which means that whatever that person is going through, there will always be hope. The line that says "And I know you're on the inside . . . lookin' out." means that the person inside the attic is trying to reach out for help from everyone and everyone notices it but no one knows what the person really going through as the attic is dark and shuttered.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone! In my opinion, this poem is telling us about a person who’s trapped in past memories. It may be very bad memories that cause so much broken to the person. The ‘house’ may present the life of the person that has been dark and shuttered because of the bad memories that haunted him. However, he still can see the ‘light’ in the attic which represent hope. From my own interpretation, he may refer ‘attic’ as his future life where he can see the hope to regain his broken life.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with a few of my friend’s opinion that the ‘outside’ represent the character that the person shows to the other people while ‘inside’ is his inner self which only he knows it’s suffering. I think everyone can relate to this where we have a lot of things and problems that we tend to keep to ourselves and only shows the happy side of us to the people to hide our problem. And in the end, it causes us to suffer more. This is why I think the persona said in the last line “And I know you're on the inside... lookin' out.” which tell us his inner side that holds a lot of untold stories is ‘lookin’ out’ and want to let everything out in order for him to reach the light. -202696 Nur Suhana-
When I first read this poem, I interpreted it literally like he’s on a journey, walking to a place but then this one mysterious place with a broken bulb that keeps on flickering has caught his eyes to actually observe what's inside. It seems like the attic is a dark place where no one else dared to come near but the people inside are longing to be saved, to be rescued. Maybe the persona is a savior for the people inside, to actually bring them out from the misery inside the attic.
DeleteBut then, I look at the illustration in the book, I interpret it quite the same with Suhana as the persona is still struggling with his past memories that make his soul darken and shuttered just like the house in this poem. However, the light inside shows that there’s still hope for him to change, to create a better life. The last line, I know you’re inside… lookin’ out shows that the persona hoping that he can change so he can turn the light on and get out of the despair that he has been through. The inside and outside in this poem maybe refers to one's persona, where we have our own bad and good side that didn't appear in front of other people. Sometimes we have to put on a mask to let people discover only the good side but then it makes us suffer inside. -203742 Nur Alia Amirah
I have the same thought on this poem as you did, Suhana. But for me, I interpreted the poem or the persona as a bit fiercer (?) Like, even the persona is battered with bruises, with struggles and problems, they're still there. 'I can see a flickerin' flutter' ; as in I can see the fight, the fire, in you. I can still see you. I know you are there, waiting to explode. I honestly had chills the first time I read this because of the vibe that the poem channeled to me. I like it.
Delete- Mawaddah 203255
In my opinion, the poem is about someone who is trapped in a dark place in life. The house may be represents the dark place the person is in and it haunts him but, although he is stuck in the dark, he can see the light from the attic which means he still has hope to get out of the house, the dark place he is in. The line, "And I know you're on the inside... lookin' out." indicates that he still has hope that someone will help him to get through the dark and bring the light in his life. He wants someone to be there for him. He is trying to reach out to people to get out of the darkness.
ReplyDeleteAngelina (204700)
This poem contains many representations, in my opinion, the person who's in the dark house represents being trapped in horrible memories, while the light in the atiic represents hope, a way out of this miserable life.
ReplyDelete“One day he said, “I’ll tell this town
How it feels to be an unfunny clown.”
And he told them all why he looked so sad,
And he told them all why he felt so bad.
He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,
He told of Darkness in his soul,
And after he finished his tale of woe,
Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,
They laughed until they shook the trees…
And while the world laughed outside.
Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.”
The character 'Cloony the Clown' reminds me of a commercial, which is basically describing the same situation, which resonates me.This part of the poem touches me the most, but rather in a sad way. I think we've all been through the phase where we speak our hearts out but receives nothing but ignorance and being shut down, which is heart-breaking. Bao Wenkai 201549
From the title itself, it describes the light in the attic. Attic is the highest place and closest to the roof. The light identified to be only in the attic while the whole house in dark.
ReplyDeleteThe house might represent many aspects in someone’s life. It is based on how that someone keeps his distance from the others and suffer from the untold pain behind the closed door. The whole house is dark, indicates how it is unreachable and unrecognizable for other people. The only place with light is the attic.
I personally think that it is more than just a physical pain that person in the attic faced because if it was that case, he could try to escape but it is way deeper than that. It is about hope that ‘flickering flutter’ describes, that might be the only way to heal him from a mental and emotional torture.
Only a broken heart can recognize another broken heart. The person outside can be someone that have undergo that phase before as he knows best what it is and how desperate the person inside, looking out for some help. It can be the final hope for him before the whole house in dark including the attic. I think the attic symbolizes his heart and hope in it that he can’t simply escape from.
-Fathihah Ariffin 203253
Hi Fathihah! I really like the first line in your last paragraph "Only a broken heart can recognize another broken heart" and i think that only the persona knows himself better than anyone else and it is true that the persona have gone through that phase and he is trying to help himself.
DeleteHey fathihah. I like how you compared the house to the person’s life. It got me thinking of the poem in a slightly different way from my initial views. The whole house being dark shows how the person’s life is probably shrouded in darkness. There is no light in other aspects of his life. I think besides being a place that is rarely visited, the attic is also usually used to store cluttered up junk. Maybe this aspect of the attic shows us that the person’s mind feels burdened and cluttered with their own thoughts. The person in the attic could be revisiting parts of themselves they have kept hidden away, or maybe revisiting a past version of themselves. I also agree to the flickering light as a sign of hopefulness. Maybe the person is hopeful in building themselves back up, returning to a version of themselves that they liked. Or maybe the light in the attic represents the persons self-discovery as he slowly comes to terms with aspects of himself. Kind of like shedding light on his own situation. Besides that, I feel that “only a broken heart can recognize another broken heart” perfectly captures how the persona of the poem reacts to the person in the attic. The persona seems to have an understanding of the person’s situation, which could have been gained by going through similar challenges.
Delete-Sasmiita Segar, 202800
Chen Hongyu 201706
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, in the poem The Light in the Attic, the house represents the persona as the person as what Iqy said, author uses word “ though” which is expressing the twist, ‘light’ contrasts with ‘dark‘, in many contexts of poetry and literature, authors usually separate the flesh from the soul, body from the mind, to express the unique and great of being wise and kind in mind and soul. Same goes to this poem, from position, attic is located at the top at the house, if the attic represents brain, so house is the body, the person. From poetic meaning, if house represents the person, then the light in the attic(brain) will be more precious, because the person refuse to obey the hard situation but still have the bright and wise thinking.
About ‘the inside’ and ‘the outside’, I think it’s more like the author wants the world to know the persona’s soul, also, the persona wants to break free from something, maybe the situation, trauma and self-closed. “And I know you’re on the inside...lookin’ out.” Is more likely saying to himself, ‘outside’ is in the rational aspect, he can see him self, but from the emotional aspect, on the inside, he wants to be healed and open himself.
After trying to have my own understanding towards the poem, what I can understand is that the persona is talking to himself. He can see himself being stucked with his own thoughts as we can see in the 4th line, he knows what he was thinking. I think the house represents the obstacles, struggles, or problems that hindered him from going 'outside'. However, he also said that there is a light in the attic in the fifth line meaning that there is a hope or chance. The attic means that there is still a chance or hope for him to escape. In the second line, the persona said that the house is dark and shuttered. This clearly shows that he was staying inside for a reason. There must be something really really bad happened that made him shut everything from coming in. In the last line, the persona said that he is inside of the house looking outside. This shows that he actually wants to come out from the obstacles and struggles but he is scared.
ReplyDeleteIf he wants to escape from those obstacles, he must go outside first. After that, he can see that there is actually a hope or a chance for him to escape from his darkness. There is a quote saying that "The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame" and this quote is a good example to give a whole idea of this poem. It's more like the persona is telling himself "Come outside, you can see how it really is!". We have to make a change if we want the best for ourselves.
For me, I agree with most of them that the house represents the persona and the attic stands for the persona's mind. I think it is from "dark and shuttered", we can infer that the house is dark, which implies that the persona feels negative or maybe empty inside. Usually "dark" represents something negative like feeling lost. And when I first read the poem, I wondered what the poet means by the contrast of outdoor and indoor. Now I suppose the person who stands indoor and outdoor might be the persona himself. We all have two sides, both good and bad. And sometimes we feel life is going down, and we are losing ourselves. Therefore, we need to step out and see ourselves clearly. Maybe the persona is going through tough times in his life, that is why he needs to go inside and outside to see what he really wants. "There is a light on in the attic", the light here represents hope. So I think the persona doesn't want to give up on himself, that is why he goes inside and out to figure out solutions and maybe seek for hope and help. -201388 Huang Yaoyi
ReplyDeleteI am not someone who tends to think about the meaning of a poem. At first, I think this poem talked about some break-ins or burglary since there is someone in the attic. It is scary at the same time too.
ReplyDeleteBut upon further discussion with my classmates and Madam Ju, I think I finally have my own insight about this poem. In my opinion, The Light in The Attic is a poem that tells us about self-struggle in freeing our own self. From the poem, the room is referred as dark. This might represent the poet's mind in general. The poet is standing in a room, staring at someone who is outside the room. The person from the outside saw a silhouette in the room and for some times, he saw a light flickering in the dark room.
From here, I think I can interpret that the persona is looking to his own self in the attic from the outside (since the point of view of the poet is continuously referring 'someone' is in the attic and he is outside the house). The dark room represent his lost and senseless life. The outside surrounding represents the life that he is longing for. The flickering light is actually symbolizes 'an idea' that the persona actually needs to go outside to achieve the life that he longed for. The light are sometimes on and off, this might refer on how the persona is second-guessing everything to go out from the room.
Ideally, this poem symbolizes us, as humans so much. We do not know how far we can actually go if we go out of our comfort zone. If we choose to stay and lock ourselves within our comfort zone, we will be nowhere to go. I believe, at some points of our life, we will be considering to go outside, but that thought often hindered by several factors. This is how I view the relation between this poem and our reality.
Noorfitri Aliah Binti Ramli (201748)
hye fitri, i really like the last part of your explanation where you mention about comfort zone. i do agree that we will never know how far our abilities, our strength, our capabilities if we do not go out from our comfort zone. that is why we are always encouraged to try new things. Even if we failed, we can take it and keep it as our useful experience and can transform us to be a better person. Actually, I have same point of view with fitri. In my opinion, the light represent unknown thing. We need to go out if we want to know what is the light. In short, we need to try new thing to know what is actually it is. Do not be afraid to try new thing, because “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker".
Deletehi madam, honestly in my opinion the first thing that i thought about this poem is human and hope. even though we are broken by people and life situations we are still searching for hope to still stay alive.
ReplyDeletethe house represents us as human being, even we have been broken may times but there is still a slightest hopes to stay alive. the flickering flutter is hope that seems impossible yet reachable slowly. we will always search for hope when we are at our lowest states. the position of the persona makes it impossible to reach it as the persona has to go through the attic first by going out from the house to reach the final hope. in real life, hope is not something we always get and it is unstable.
This is how I view the relation between real life and this wonderful poem. (202797)
In mym opinion,I agree with most of the comments. I also think that the house represents a person, and the attic represents his soul. I think the word darkness is negative, and it also makes us feel that his current situation is very unoptimistic, depressing, and gloomy. Just like an oil lamp swaying and about to burn out, it is about to disappear in the corner of this house. At this time, we saw the little light flickering from the attic again, which means that he is still yearning for new life and new things. He does not want to be enclosed in the dark, and does not want to yield to the difficult situation he is in. He seems to break through this endless The darkness, even if he only have sparks of fire. At the same time, this light is also his only announcement to the outside world, so those who are outside and looking in may be his spiritual sustenance. He hopes that the other party can see him and save him from the darkness. We can see his struggle, his desire for life, and his determination to break out of the darkness by racking his brains.
ReplyDeleteYang Yuehan 204506
DeleteMy point of view is that the house represents the soul of a person. From the darkness and blinds, I can see that this soul is actually dark and broken. In view of his own world, the appearance of the word "closed" means that the injuries he suffered in the past did not make him heal himself, and he chose to close himself. His soul, even in the dark, he still wants to have a chance to heal.
ReplyDeleteThe "There is a light on in the attic" light represents hope. Although he is in the dark, he does not want to give up. He must do his best to find opportunities, hope, and help.
LI SIJIE 204434
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, the house represent the environment world that includes the society, belief, religion, life experience.... which limits people but also develops people( that’s why everyone is unique). The light represents the mind/ soul/ dream. People’s ‘light’ influences by the ‘house’ which create a unique ’light’. Although people live a totally different life and grow up in a different culture society, they still can find some like-minded friends. As this poem said, there is a light in the house, I know what it’s about. I think here is a feeling of finding like-minded friends.
DeleteI imagine the persona wandering somewhere and stopped by a strange house. There, he saw someone inside the house. Personally, I think that the house represents the persona himself where he’s figuring out on solving some kind of problem. The word ‘flickerin flutter’ may be interpreted as the persona gets the idea on solving the problem but it’s still vague so he’s giving deep thought on it. ‘And I know what it’s about’ may tell that the persona knows what the problem is.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the contrast setting of the indoor symbolized fantasy or imagination while outdoor represents reality. It could be the indoor is inside the brain (our imagination) and the outdoor is when we have come to our sense. There a time when we have to deal with such a challenging times. We have so many wishes or hope in dealing with those difficult times. However, it might not happen as we need to step on reality. For instance, we sometimes think what we would do if time is turned back. There must be so many things that we want to change. However, when we go outdoor (back to reality), the thought stuck there as it is unachievable.
PHILOMENA A/P SANDANA DASS (203744)
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective, the attic symbolizes our dark past rather than our depressed mind because I’m more terrified of my past self. So according to the poem, the attic could represent the persona’s mind, darkness, trapped self and memories. However, to me personally the attic represents our dark sides as well that could be locked up somewhere within ourselves. It's based on my experience and perspective, because sometimes things are better to be locked up for our own good. The line, “I can see a flickerin’ flutter, And I know what it is about” symbolizes the voices in our mind when It lets out voices sometimes wanting to be set free while pretending to be a form of magical light, but deep inside we know that it's a trap. It gets noisy up there but it is better to ignore them. In reality, attics are spooky and unattended store rooms, so in my opinion the attic in this poem represents our unwanted dark memories that haunts us to this day once we start overthinking. However, the poem could be interpreted differently by a child but now as an adult I feel a little tensed by how I had interpreted it based on my own understanding. Besides, I am quite disturbed by the cover of the poem itself even though it is a simple sketch, so I am sure that I would have avoided looking at the cover as a child.
Hi Philomena, I liked your thought about the past I understand that every person has dark sides I totally agree to conceal to not to get hurt as you might highlight a part that people haven't noticed about you and they start picking up on you just because of a thought you have revealed, it is plausible that our dark past is calling for the enlightening, flourishing future, 100% support your argument about the scary cover of the poem totally creepy.
DeleteHiba jebrini 201714
From my point of view, I think that the attic symbolizes our inner self. The flickering flutter is the hope that people have within themselves, even if they feel useless and lose the will to pursue life. And as time goes by, your light of hopes still going to be there as there are part of your inner self.
ReplyDeleteThe house mentioned in the poem is to refer to our physical self that was visible to others, and that is why there are 'shuttered' and 'dark'. Our visible self could be clearly seen and being judged, but our inner self is invisible to most people.
I don't know if this is making sense but this is what this poem mean to me since the first time I read.
-Imanina Sheenaz
Nur Afiqah (203149)
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, this poem is about how a person tried to see the rainbow out of an unpleasant situation the persona is facing. The house here refers to a person which is the persona himself where 'Thought the house is dark and shattered' means even though he is full of mess and things that bothered him, there is still some hopes and new beginnings for him to start over (refers to attic). Usually in literature, house is used as a symbolism to maturation, identity and adaptation to life's circumstances, and that's how the 'house' is applied in this poem. In short as what I have said earlier, the house means the persona's identity and how he adapt to his life circumstances.
Moving on, the significant of the contrasting setting of the indoor and outdoor is how the persona's inner self is battling with his outer self. The indoor here refers to the darkness of the persona's life while the outdoor in the setting refers to the new beginning/hope that he believes will come and save him. The hope here could be his future motivation, his friends, his family who try to help him while he's fighting to save himself from the darkness.
Thank you.
Hi madam! for me this poem discusses on how someone is viewing themselves? sometimes in life we tend to keep our problems to ourselves where it becomes a dark place in our head and heart. i think we can see the attic as the person we hide from everyone, and the light is the hope we have, even if it is dim, it is there. about the contrast of indoor and outdoor in the poem, i believe that it is a representation of a person. we all have a different personality when we face different situation and i believe that is the case for the persona, however we can also say that the indoor is the persona trapped self that cannot escape from the darkness but hoping to see the light soon and the outdoor is the persona representation of themselves when they are facing the world, the personality that they choose to exhibit.
ReplyDeletei personally think that this poem goes beyond any intrepretation as it is only fitting of how we percieve it. i hope that mine is relatable to some.
Thankyou for reading :)
Asmiatun, 202697.
Hi Asmiatun, i really do agree with your understanding about the poem which is " we all have a different personality when we face different situation" it somehow shows about the poem is about. How it is trying to explain to us what is the poem about.
DeleteSilverstein often uses prominent, simply rhyme schemes throughout this book of poetry, making them easy to follow and popular with younger children/teens. They flow beautifully, almost rhythmically, and are all rather short. They are mostly humourous poems, with little illustrations alongside them. These illustrations, also by Shel Silverstein, are also often funny, and help us understand the point/joke being made in the related poem
From my perspective, the flickering lights represents the act of seeking for help, (like an S.O.S). It makes the ones outside who sees it, have the urge to lend a help. Knowing that the people inside (the cause of the light) is in need of help. This then makes me see and relate this scene to the idea of child abuse and violence.
ReplyDeleteizzah fatini 203741
The first thought that came to my mind when I read the poem is, "wow, what is in the attic that it should be hidden away from people?". I believe that in a house, an attic is the deepest part of the house, as it is at the top of the house. Therefore, when we put things in the attic, it's either because we don't use it anymore, or it's because we don't want any visitors to see the things. The things could be clutter, old photos or maybe just things that has sentimental value to us.
ReplyDeleteNow, the attic is also a personal space where most of the time, only the owners of the house will go up the attic. it is unusual for visitors to visit our attic right? so I think that when there's something in the attic, probably only the owner has access to the things there.
So as to the symbolism, I personally think that the light in the attic means the persona is trying to reach into him and search for the things that is meaningful or traumatizing to him.
The concept of outside and inside in this poem could mean that the inside is actually the deep dark secret or feelings that the persona tries to hide or suppress. he does not want other to know what he is hiding or keeping from them. that's why he on the outside puts on an act. but when the poem mentioned "you're on the inside looking out", I think it means that even though the persona manages to hide his true feelings, it will always be there itching and waiting until one day it will eventually be let out.
Elleanna 203254
From my point of view, this poem describe no matter how lost we are in our live, there will always be light that will guide us through our pain/struggle, 'the light in the attic' symbolize the hope that all of us need in order to get through the situation. The persona tried to portray the attic as ourselves, our mind and our heart when we are facing our own problems. For me, sometimes I prefer keep my own problems to myself and slowly, our mind and heart become a dark place as they hold too many burdens. We often view ourselves as a broken person and refuse to dive into a relationship because we are scared of the possibility that the touch of love from someone else will leave our heart wounded, not knowing that no matter how broken you or we are, there will always be someone who view us as enough. They will love us before they know who we really are, and will keep on doing so even after they learn the truth about us. so basically this poem for me, teach us that we might think that the scars in our heart are beyond repair, but there will always be hope for us, to love happily and there will always be someone who can see the light in ourselves and wish to share bit of its brightness with us. :)
ReplyDeleteSyafiq Irham 202695