"They Live in a Rickety House"
             That their hearts are hard as stone;
             He's very concerned `bout their souls;
             But he never would ask, in the coldest days,
             After analyzing the poem "We Live in a Rickety House" one can definitely acknowledge the fact that altering a poem in the smallest way can change the entire meaning of the poem. Simply changing a few key words in the poem can modify the entire perspective that the reader has of the poem. By varying the wording such as changing "they" to "us" and "our" to "their", the poem seems to be completely different than the original. Every stanza describes varying aspects of the rickety house; therefore changing the same words in different stanzas may dramatically alter the poem as a whole.
             The first aspect that any reader looks at when understanding literature is the title. If the title of a piece is bold and attracting, chances are the reader will be drawn into the piece and will continue reading pas the title. The title of the original poem, written by Alexander McLachlan, "We Live in a Rickety House" seems appealing because it is a title that describes a different type of situation. What is meant by this is that if the title of the poem were "We Live in a House", it would not attract as many readers as the actual title did. The author carefully chose to use the word rickety to attract the audience and draw them into the poem. By choosing to change the word "we" to "they" the title of the poem takes on a whole new meaning. By simply changing one word, the audience can see that the poem will be written in the third person; whereas the original title presents the poem written in the first person. The new title introduces a poem written by the author about a group of people, whereas the original title presents a poem written about them living in the rickety home. By modifying one w...