WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LULU BY CHARLES CAUSLEY

The Poem
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll
And by its side a shoe.
Why is her window wide, mother,
The curtain flapping free,
And only a circle on the dusty shelf
Where her money-box used to be?
Why do you turn your head, mother,
And why do tear drops fall?
And why do you crumple that note on the fire
And say it is nothing at all?
I woke to voices late last night,
I heard an engine roar.
Why do you tell me the things I heard
Were a dream and nothing more?
I heard somebody cry, mother,
In anger or in pain,
But now I ask you why, mother,
You say it was a gust of rain.
Why do you wander about as though
You don't know what to do?
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?

Meaning of Lines
Stanza 1

The persona is questioning her mother about the mysterious and sudden
disappearance of Lulu. An old rag doll and a shoe was left behind

Stanza 2
The persona saw that the windows are wide opened and the curtains
are "flapping free" in the wind. The persona also notice her money-box on the
dusty shelf is gone.

Stanza 3

The persona asks the mother why she is hiding her tears. The mother
crumples up a note (most probably from Lulu) and throws it into the fire.
Mother then tells her child that it is nothing at all. The persona does not believe
her.

Stanza 4

The persona tells that she was awakened by "voices late last night" and
heard the sounds of an "engine roar", probably a car starting up and being
driven away. The mother lies that the child was only dreaming.

Stanza 5
The persona insists that she had heard someone cry "in anger or in pain". The
mother says it was just "a gust of rain"

Stanza 6
Puzzled about the mother's distraught behavior, the narrator wants to
know why the mother is pacing about, uncertain what to do. The use of "Lu"
is an affectionate shortened form of "Lulu

What Has Happened to Lulu?

Subject matter

It is a poem told in a childs voice about his older sister

running away.
A child is asking his mother what has happened to his sister, Lulu. There is nothing in
her room, and her money-box has gone, with only an open window and an old ragdoll left behind. His mother is crying and burning a note. He thinks he heard voices
and a car in the middle of the night, but his mother tells him he was only dreaming.
Form and structure
The poem is a ballad. written in four line stanzas where the second and fourth lines
rhyme. This regular and simple form seems appropriate for the voice of the narrator,
which is of a young child.
It is a first person dramatic monologue that is addressed to the mother of the
narrator. It is almost entirely written in questions, both reflecting the age of the
speaker and his puzzlement at what has happened to his sister. The form suggests
the childs innocence, while allowing the reader to read between the lines and
understand what has happened.
Language and Imagery
Imagery
The image of the abandoned bed is the main one, described by the child narrator.
The inclusion of childhood objects such as a rag-doll and a money-box emphasise
the youth and innocence of the run-away Lulu. They are contrasted with the roar of
the car engine heard in the night and the grown-up world that the narrator does not
understand, emphasised by the constant questions. The curtain can be seen as a
metaphor for Lulus new freedom, contrasted by the dust on the shelf that represents
her previous life.
Sound

The doubling of the sound in Lulu, together with the high level of repetition of both
the name and its shortening in the poem, create a strong echo of the sound which
is also the rhymed sound in the first and last stanza. This is quite a childish sound,
and helps to create the plaintive note in the childs questioning.
Attitudes, themes and ideas
The poem takes an approach that makes the reader work to figure out what has
happened. We have to piece together the clues given in the poem. This is in contrast
to the apparent simplicity of the poem provided by the ballad format and the childs
voice. Doing this also puts the reader in the position of the child, who does not
understand what is going on. We, like the narrator, have more questions than
answers. The tone is one of puzzlement.
What Has Happened to Lulu?

It deals with themes of grief and love. The mother is grieving over her lost child. The
fact that the child has run away does not make the grief less significant. The
confusion of the narrator about his or her parents reaction also tells us something
about the nature of grief.The poem also considers how we deal with children, in
dismissing what they have heard or seen. The child narrator has some valid
knowledge of what has happened, but his mother tells him he dreamed it. The poem
raises the question of how the child can react, when he has been told nothing is the
matter, when clearly it is. Ironically the mother does not know what to do, as the final
stanza makes clear.

Setting
Place

Probably in England as the word "money-box" is a typical British word.

Lulu's room

The fireplace
Time

In the past
Themes

1. The end of childhood and the loss of innocence

Lulu is probably a young teenager.

She ran away based on the note that her mother crumpled.

She took her savings "money-box" to start a new life with a man who drove
her off in a "engine roar".

She left her childhood behind.

2. Parent-child relationship

The mother and Lulu relationship could have been a tense and strained one.

Lulu is a rebellious teenager.

She dislikes her mother's restrictions on her freedom and emerging interest in
the opposite sex.

She keeps secrets from her mother.

The mother and narrator relationship is less dramatic.

The narrator is obedient and respectful to the mother.

The narrator loves the mother very much and observe her pain and distress.

3. Grief and love

The mother is grieving over the loss of her child, Lulu.

The mother clearly loves Lulu.

The narrator loves the sister as she called her by pet name "Lu".

The narrator is worried about the sudden disappearance of the elder sister