Response to Poem: 'Miss Gee'

How is the story told in Miss Gee?

Auden is known for his story-like poems and ‘Miss Gee’ is no exception to this observable reoccurrence.

This comes across with its wording: ‘let me tell you a little story’ at the beginning of the poem; giving the reader the impression that the poem will be a very imaginative one, and narrative based.

There is also a use of narrative elements: setting- ‘she lived at Cleveden Terrace At Number 83’, describing Miss Gee’s house; followed by characterisation- ‘Doctor Thomas looked her over’, ‘his wife was waiting to ring’, ‘her lips were thin and small, she had narrow sloping shoulders’ to emphasise the differences between characters.

It is evident that the writer brings out a controversial class or superiority theme, clear from the reactions of the doctor: ‘why didn’t you come before?’; creating a superior status over Miss Gee due to her choices, as it comes across like being said to a child or someone who is incapable of making their own decisions from the start: ‘why didn’t you…?’. Miss Gee questions this difference by saying: ‘does anyone care that I live in Clevedon Terrace on one hundred pounds a year?’, emphasising the class and social status differences between ‘neighbours’.

This poem is written from the perspective of an observer with insight into Miss Gee’s life and routine. This is reflected in an eponymous title- reflecting the perspective of an onlooker; in the third person. This is clear from description of events that take place, and background information given on her: ‘she’d a purple mac for wet days, a green umbrella to take’. The way in which the writer clearly knows her quite suspiciously shows that Miss Gee is a very well known face around the area, and everyone is used to her routine- or the writer has gone to some lengths in finding out the information. However, from the descriptions, it seems as if the former is more of an accurate judgement; due to the tone of the poem coming across as a lot more like common knowledge on Miss Gee, rather than an intimate knowledge of her. This impression comes across with phrases such as; ‘she’d a bicycle with a shopping basket and a harsh back-pedal brake,’ making it seem as if she is local, almost as if it were custom to gossip and get updates about her. This is contradicted by the phrase: ‘she dreamed a dream one evening that she was the Queen of France’, as if the writer has inside knowledge to Miss Gee’s life, but also could be a reflection of the gossip that has travelled around about her.

Auden uses an ABAB quatrains rhyming pattern, giving the impression that the poem is quite child-like, reflected by the use of very basic punctuation- rarely seeing any caesura or enjambment, unless concerning dialogue- and could come across as being written in the style of a nursery rhyme- often not used for a poem that has a very sombre context. Saying this, nursery rhymes regularly have a melancholic or cruel underlining meaning; so Auden may have used these regularly thought of as child-like poetry characteristics intentionally. This cross between nursery style rhymes through punctuation, repetitive patterns, and ulterior meanings can be found in the stanza: ‘His wife she rang for the servant, Said, ‘Don’t be so morbid. dear’; He said: ‘I saw Miss Gee this evening and she’s a goner, I fear’.

The whole poem may well be a reflection on society. This is drawn from line 86; ‘the students began to laugh’- making Miss Gee the characteristics of a victim; unable to retaliate to anyone who has a higher status than her. This use of status is found throughout the poem, reflected by the lack of defence for herself by Miss Gee, as she knows that her words will fall on deaf ears. This can be interpreted by the reader as a reflection of society, as people increasingly find others’ pain amusing, and do nothing to change it; until they are in that circumstance. This is often perceived as an immature approach, hence ‘the students’; but is actually quite an accurate account of society as a whole, as a lot of people would not care, or not act in a different way to how ‘the students’ did.