The relationship, specifically between a husband and wife, is the theme in Al Purdy’s “Home-Made Beer.” Through satirical illustrations of the speaker’s encounters with his wife, Purdy presents an almost stereotypical image of married life. This stereotypical marriage is certainly not that of the circa 1950’s nuclear family, but rather a dark comedy version of the uncaring husband and manic wife. The poem casually portrays the husband’s unsympathetic attitude towards his wife’s feelings and, figurative or not, the wife’s violent reaction to her husbands uncaring nature. Purdy emphasizes the relationship through the juxtaposition of romantic language and violent and graceless action. With reference to imagery and diction, I will show that “Home-Made Beer” illustrates Purdy’s satirical representation the relationship between a husband and wife.
The imagery in the poem suggests the couple’s dysfunctional relations are more than just bickering. The first physically violent ‘blow’ between husband and wife is demonstrated in her attacking “[him] with a broom-” (14) followed by “[…] she grabbed the breadknife and made / for me with fairly obvious intentions-” (17-18); revealing this marriage as the opposite of the archetypical nuclear family. The image of “[icicles dropping] from her fiery eyes” (22) illustrates the wife’s tears as she threatens the speaker’s life and reveals her guilt for attacking him, “cleverly concealing” her love for him. The speaker exhibits the ongoing danger of their relationship in stating: “[…] I had to distribute / the meals she prepared among the neighbouring / dogs because of the rat poison […]” (28-30). In “[…] it can never again- / Sept.22, 1964: I was wrong-” (35-36) Purdy deliberately hints that the speaker’s wife continues to try and poison him.
Purdy’s choice of words is both formal and colloquial. He juxtaposes his violent images by casually displaying a poetic “savoir faire”. “[With excessive moderation I yodelled […] “Keep your ass out of my beer!”]” (7-9) it is obvious there had been no “excessive moderation” and no actual “yodelling,” rather, yelling on account of the punctuation and words “keep your ass out.” Additionally, what about the excess of l’s in the word “yodelling?” Perhaps a typing mistake but I highly doubt that; it is more likely Purdy’s clever invention to have the reader look twice and assume he intended yelling, or, it is one of Purdy’s representations of his colloquial type character. This misspelling of particular words is again noted in line thirty-one “Missus” justly confirms the expression of the colloquial type of character the speaker is. Purdy’s alliteration of ‘b’ sounds reveals the speaker’s colloquial attitude towards his wife’s menstruation in: “where she had been brooding for days / over the injustice of being a woman […]” (12-13). The speaker’s colloquial attitude is thus continued throughout the second stanza and is reaffirmed in his “minimum boredom” over her knife wielding threat of murder.
Purdy’s “Home-Made Beer” presents a stereotypical relationship of a married couple. He emphasizes the theme satirically through language and diction. The characters are portrayed colloquially in their speech and their actions. The poem’s theme expresses the speaker’s misogynistic desire to trivialize the feminine experience.
Photo taken from: harbourpublishing.com
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