The daughter’s bedroom is at the heart of the story being told, both in the present moment and in the speaker’s memory. The speaker describes it as a “prow” (Line 1) and continues to build associations with the house as a ship, with the room as the foremost elevated area. On a ship, the prow was the space at the very front where mermaids and other figureheads would be carved for luck. This illustrates how the daughter and her creative energy are the focal point of the house. In another respect, the bedroom is a metaphor for the human mind. This is particularly apparent in the secondary story in which the bird is trapped within this space, but also in how the speaker never enters the room uninvited; instead, they allow it to remain private and sacred as a vessel for inspiration and creativity...