Explication on the Poem "Hello, Hello Henry" by Maxine Kumine

Hello, Hello Henry
(Maxine Kumin, 1982)

My neighbor in the country, Henry Manley,
with a washpot warming on his woodstove,
with a heifer and two goats and yearly chickens,
has outlasted Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
but something’s stirring in him in his dotage

Last fall he dug a hole and moved his privy
and a year ago in April reamed his well out.
when the country sent a truck and poles and cable,
his daddy ran the linemen off with a gunshot
and swore he’d die by oil lamp, and did.

Now you tell me that all yesterday in Boston
you set your city phone at mine, and had it ringing
inside a dead apartment for three hours
room after empty room, to keep your busy.
I hear it in my head, that ranting summons.

That must be about the time that Henry
walked up two miles, shy as a girl come calling,
to tell me he has a phone now, 264, ring two.
It rang one time last week – wrong number.
He’d be pleased if one day I would think to call him

Hello, hello, Henry? Is that you?





Paraphrase
• Henry Manley is my neighbor in the country. He is just an ordinary country old man, but lately something seems to change in him.
• Some time ago he moved out, but when the country people came bringing their tools, his father scared them off with a gunshot.
• Yesterday you called me and kept calling me for three hours even when none picked up your call. I hear the rings in my head
• It must be when Henry shyly came to tell me he has a phone now. He’d be pleased if he knew I’d call him.
• So I call him.


Imagery and Diction

o Visual
-with a washpot warming on his woodstove
-with a heifer and two goats and yearly chickens,
-room after empty room

o Auditory
-his daddy ran the linemen off with a gunshot
-you set your city phone at mine, and had it ringing
-I hear it in my head, that ranting summons.
-It rang one time last week

o Kinetic
-but something’s stirring in him

o Kinesthetic
- he dug a hole and moved his privy
-reamed his well out.
-you set your city phone at mine, and had it ringing
-walked up two miles


This poem is mostly consists of visual, auditory, kinesthetic and kinetic imagery. The author built the imagery in this poem in such a way that readers will be able to picture the situation and the events that happened in the poem vividly. The dictions the author used were simple, there is no really difficult word or big word like most of other famous poets like to use, but that simplicity is what makes this poem interesting. How in such simple words that look so plain and without allegory, hidden such a deep meaning that leaves a lasting impression in those who read it. And to get what this poem is trying to say, you need to read it more closely and carefully. All in all, this poem is truly a great work of literature.


Figurative Language
• Personification
-inside a dead apartment for three hours

• Metaphor
-I hear it in my head, that ranting summons.
-he’d die by oil lamp

• Simile
-walked up two miles, shy as a girl come calling,


Alliteration
• with a washpot warming on his woodstove,
• but something’s stirring
• in him in his dotage


Assonance
• My neighbor in the country, Henry Manley,
• something’s stirring


Rhyme
There is no definite rhyme or verse in this poem, and that is why this poem’s rhyme is categorized as Free Rhyme or Free Verse.


Characters
There are five main characters in this poem: the speaker, the listener, Henry Manley and Harry’s Father. Because the poem does not give us any clue about who the speaker is other than that she/he is Henry’s neighbor, it could be assumed that the speaker is actually the author herself. The speaker is addressing the readers, thus the readers act as the listeners. The last character is Henry Manley, the one whom the speaker is talking about in this poem.

As we can see in the first line, Henry is the speaker’s neighbor. And from the second and the third line, we also could assume that he is just an ordinary country man, who has his own livestock and cook using ordinary woodstove. In the fourth line, has outlasted Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, the speaker implies that Henry is quite old because his age has outlasted the people mentioned in the poem, and this also could be assumed from the word dotage in the fifth line.

In the next paragraph, the speaker told us about Henry who just suddenly moved out. Then when the people from the country came there with their tools, Henry’s father scared them off with a shotgun and swore that he’d keep using oil lamp and would die by oil lamp, and he actually did.

In the fifth line, the speaker said something about something that changes in Henry, and I think it is the idea of modernization. From the information I could gather from the second stanza, it seems that the people from the country or the government is trying to modernize the country with electricity, or something like that, just like line eight, when the country sent a truck and poles and cable, suggests. So it could be assumed that Henry’s father is one of old-minded people who still refuse to use electricity, and would keep using oil lamp till the end, while Henry himself is quite open-minded, and apparently also quite excited, if the line 12, 17, and 18 are anything to go by.

In the third stanza, the speaker told us about the time when Henry already had a phone line. The speaker told us about how Henry called her over and over and kept on calling her for three hours, as the line 13 states, even though no one picked up the phone. Then in the 14th line – room after empty room, to keep yours busy – it is as if the speaker implies that Henry called her only because he has no one to call other than her. Somehow, compared to the other stanza, the third stanza felt rather heart-breaking to me, because it seems that Henry is quite a lonely character.

Then in the fourth stanza, the speaker told us that apparently because no one picked up the phone, he came to the speaker’s house himself to tell her that he already has a phone now, just like the line 16th, 17th, and 18th state.

In the end, the speaker finally calls Henry, just like the line Hello, hello, Henry? Is that you? implies.

The setting for this poem is in a country where apparently still have not gotten any electricity or telephone line, just like the line when the country sent a truck and poles and cable, and Henry’s father’s mention of oil lamp is anything to go by.

Over all, I think this poem is trying to tell us about what happen when people from the city or the country’s government tries to modernize the country. There are people who welcome it, like Henry, and there are also people who despise it, like Henry’s father.