The Return by Michele Robert

The Return by Michele Robert

       The Return by Michele Robert talks about a protagonist who returns after many years spend all the money given by his father. The title of the poem reminds us of the Biblical stories from Prodigal son in which the younger son return home without a single penny after spending.

      In this poem the poet identifies herself as the prodigal daughter of her father. The poet is atheist and has gone away from her father since long her father’s house is Anglican and the poet hated Christianity. The poet had no faith in God. Their natures were different. One was believer and other was non-believer. Later on the protagonist realize that she was wrong in leaving her parents’ house and she returns home. At the time of repairing she fined some wedding celebration going on where her mother moved around her father during the celebration. She realises and was also convinced that her parents and not the architects   were the real-original architects of the house. The poet realise that her parents sweat of love build the house. The house is metaphorically used.

       The poem is regular. There is no pattern in stanza or sentence. It reminds us of Romantic age as it refer Biblical example. All the statements are declarative in the poem, it has short lines but irregular stanza. The poet seems to be against believing in any staunch religion. The poet believes in physical reality and not in any unseen power that exist. The poem is told by the poet as the person who passed from the state of mind. ‘I’ is the personal reference used many times in the poem. The poem is the mixture of past and present style of storytelling in one way at a time no rhyme or rhythm is there in the poem.