Morning in the Burned House

First edition

Morning in the Burned House is a book of poetry by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1995.

Morning in the Burned House displays themes, interests and styles characteristic of Atwood’s poetry. These include attention to the landscape of the Canadian Shield, an air of foreboding, and poems addressed to an unspecified "you."^[1] However, the collection contains two distinct thematic concerns. The first explores the theme of torture, in particular the torture of women, through the retelling of myths such as those of Cressida, Helen of Troy, and a lion-headed goddess of war.^[2] The second is a sequence of poems which explore the theme of aging and mortality, through the depiction and response to the poet's father's slow death by cancer.^[3]

Notes

1. Abley, Mark (Jan 21, 1995), "The muse is back", The Gazette, pp. I. 1
2. IAbley, Mark (Jan 21, 1995), "The muse is back", The Gazette, pp. I. 1
3. Morton, Colin (Jan 22, 1995), "Harnessing the power of poetry; Atwood should draw people back to verse", The Ottawa Citizen, pp. B. 3

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