Philip Hobsbaum Household Gods Analysis

Phillip Hobsbaum’s poem Household Gods is a spoken account from the inanimate objects or “household gods”, who have been left in a broken home. Hobsbaum uses an extended metaphor, personifying the “household gods” who juxtapose the then and now, using an innocent naive perspective, utilising a series of objects, each with their own stanza. In doing this, Hobsbaum presents the possible feelings held by the ex-lovers showing just how devastating and unpredictable love, or the break down of love, can be. Hobsbaum primarily juxtaposes the intimacy between the two partners who lived in the house, from a third party perspective. Using the “household gods” as a third party, Hobsbaum emphasises the separation now felt in the relationship. Each household

Each object expresses the pain in a different way, whether missing the intimacy from the “caress”, the lack of understanding of “their motives” or the fact their lives are now meaningless because their lives no longer give “our lives meaning”. Hobsbaum emphasises the amount of things and various ways that these objects are affected by giving them each their own stanza. Whilst each is short, the nine stanza’s reflect how many ways their lives have changed. Each stanza being relatable to how the ex-lovers may now feel shows the many ways in which their lives have changed and become less meaningful. However, as each has “no way of knowing/their motives”, they “will never know their household gods”, representing one another have been, “are slain”. Ultimately, Hobsbaum uses the “household gods” as a metaphor for how each partner is feeling. Conveying the negative change in their emotions, their lack of understanding for one another and the various ways in which their lives are changed. Hobsbaum implies that a relationship may have no need to break down, but people may just become different and separate from one