''Morning in the Burned House'' is a book of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

author Margaret Atwood published by

McClelland and Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was found ...

in 1995. The book expresses 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." However, the collection also explores two distinct concerns. The first is torture, in particular the torture of women, which Atwood confronts through the retelling of myths such as those of

Cressida Cressida (; also Criseida, Cresseid or Criseyde) is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas, a Greek seer. She falls in love with Troilus, ...

, Helen of Troy, and

Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. Sekhmet is a solar de ...

, the Egyptian lion-headed goddess of war. Second, Atwood focuses a sequence of poems on aging and mortality by depicting and responding to her father's slow death from cancer.

Reception

''Morning in the Burned House'' was the co-winner of the 1995 Trillium Book Award in the English-language division.

References

External links

1995 poetry books Poetry by Margaret Atwood McClelland & Stewart books Canadian poetry collections {{poetry-collection-stub