Another,very unpleasant, way of reading and interpreting the poem 'Morning In The Burned House' by Margaret Attwood would be to see her,the narrrator, as the ghost of the child who died in the fire. Some readers may identify with the last two lines of the poem where she refers to the body that was once hers no longer being inside the clothes,but cindered into nothingness. There could be themes of guilt, culpability and regret that may leap out at some readers - every reader is different, some will be parnets, some will be kids. Try asking some questions:
Did the parents leave the child alone to eat breakfast to go walk on the beach?
Why the attention to the stove - did something catch alight while they were out?
What about the oilcloth and the glass? Did they catch on fire,or did an unattended child tip them over?
Remember the constant emphasis on no-one else being around - what do you think happened?
So the themes could be haunting and death - compare with 'Death By Landscape:'
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