Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
What Has Happened to Lulu?
Charles Causley
(August 24, 1917 – November 4, 2003)
What has happened to Lulu, mother? |
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What has happened to Lu? | |
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll | |
And by its side a shoe. | |
Why is her window wide, mother, | 5 |
The curtain flapping free, | |
And only a circle on the dusty shelf | |
Where her money-box used to be? | |
Why do you turn your head, mother, | |
And why do tear drops fall? | 10 |
And why do you crumple that note on the fire | |
And say it is nothing at all? | |
I woke to voices late last night, | |
I heard an engine roar. | |
Why do you tell me the things I heard | 15 |
Were a dream and nothing more? | |
I heard somebody cry, mother, | |
In anger or in pain, | |
But now I ask you why, mother, | |
You say it was a gust of rain. | 20 |
Why do you wander about as though | |
You don't know what to do? | |
What has happened to Lulu, mother? | |
What has happened to Lu? |
Charles Causley |
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Study Guide
Think about the poem as a narrative. What story or scenario is played out or recounted here?
Think about the poem in terms of point of view. How does the limited perspective of a child affect the impact of the poem? Why does youth make a difference? The voice is that of a child, the questions are about Lulu, what about the mother? Why is she in the poem?
Play detective: Make inferences from the clues given in the poem. What is gone? What is left? What is said? What is unsaid?
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Last updated October 3, 2009