Faisa Fodey Mary Frandson Compsition 2 April 24, 2012 The mourning tone of May Swenson

Swenson was born in Logan, Utah in 1913. Her parents had emigrated from Sweden to join the Mormon Church, and Swenson was raised in that faith. After receiving a degree in English from Utah State University in 1939, she became a newspaper reporter in Salt Lake City. Swenson soon moved to New York City, where she wrote poetry while working as a stenographer. By 1952 her poems had appeared in The New Yorker. The most notable quality of May Swenson Body is my house remains the tone of the poem. The body has been gifted in order to serve us and others. Body is important because it refers to the parts that make up the whole. Each body part plays and important role and is dependent and depended upon by the other for the proper functioning of the body as a whole. This poem is comparing the body to the house, the horse, and the hound and simply wondering about what happens to the body after death. The largest organ is the body Body my house this shows a comparison between how big body and house looks. The body gives the person the ability to walk, work, study and do things the person need. But House also gives the body a shelter and place to hide it. The narrator wonders where the spirit goes when is taken With cloud for shift how will I hide? This quote explains not only the separation of body and soul but where they meet. It questions where the

soul will go when its body has gone and if your soul is tethered to your body. If your body is done away with is your soul really gone? Does your body contain your soul or do they simply work together nondependent of one another? And if the soul does not depend on the body where does it go? Do we ever truly die or simply leave our body? Or, if body and soul are dependent of one another where do we go? Does it end? Do we simply end our existence? This quote asks what our soul would do without a body, when it (the soul) still continued to be. The body contains eleven organs to work together. Body my horse the soul uses the body its needs when it comes to go the market to get something to eat. Muscle gives the body the ability to use legs and arms to produce walk, and is like using a horse to ride. Another interpretation comparing body to horse is the strength. Horse is stronger than human body. Horse is fast and can run for long time, however human body still can run fast enough but not like a horse. One of the metaphors the narrator uses in this poem is what will I do
when you are fallen This certainly makes the narrator wonder what will she do when she gets old, her body fallen apart. She feels bad when her body starts to experience weakness. She is predicting what her body will look like as old women. When a person is young, their body is very strong compare to when a person gets old. It become hard to do things a person used to do when they were young.

s How will I ride

 What will I hunt

Body my house my horse my hound what will I do when you are fallen

Where will I sleep How will I ride What will I hunt

Where can I go without my mount all eager and quick How will I know in thicket ahead is danger or treasure when Body my good bright dog is dead

How will it be to lie in the sky without roof or door and wind for an eye

With cloud for shift how will I hide?