How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
September rain falls on the house. (1)
The home is the center of the poem, and we learn about it in the very first line. And what's happening in that line tells us quite a bit about that home—it's got rain falling all over it (inside and out!).
Quote #2
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child. (2-3)
The domestic scene is set, but it's tinged with darkness by the rain and failing light. Keep a weather eye out (sorry, we couldn't resist) for more places in the poem where the physical environment reflects the emotional life inside the home.
Quote #3
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house (8)
The home is under assault from outside forces. Or at least, that's how it feels in these lines. The rain seems violent and threatening here, and it's totally intruding on the grandma and child's cozy scene. Maybe it wasn't all that cozy to begin with, though.
Quote #4
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child, (11-12)
Even though something seems off, the grandmother is still trying to make it a normal, happy home. So whatever tension is between these two, we can't help but wonder if it has to do with someone else entirely—someone who's missing, maybe?
Quote #5
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove. (23-24)
Again, the grandmother is trying to fight the outside forces (in this case the cold) that threaten to make theirs an unhappy home. Time and again, Bishop shows us that this isn't the cheesy home you see in Folgers coffee commercials. It's darker, sadder, and way more real (despite all the surreal imagery).
Quote #6
With crayons the child draws a rigid house (27)
The child drawings are the saddest because they seem to be the idea of the home that she doesn't have. The home she lives in is kind of a bummer. But the house she draws seems pretty perfect. Almost too perfect, in fact.
Quote #7
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house. (33-36)
Sad little moons fall into the cheeriest part of the child's drawing. Seems like no matter what, this family is doomed to sadness, both in the real September world, and in the child's imagination.
Quote #8
and the child draws another inscrutable house. (39)
The child draws another ideal home, but it's hard to make out exactly what that is. Symbol? We think so—maybe that the perfect home is so far out of reach for them, that they can hardly even imagine it.