Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

More like "taught".

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861686716

   bring up    
   transitive verb

   2. rear child: to provide care, training, and education for a child
      until maturity

"The appropriate/right/proper thing to do."

 What had how long it takes a birch to rot
 To do with what was in the darkened parlor?

I think that "was" means "had been". The baby's body had been in the
darkened parlor. The parlor is presumably still darkened. Custons vary,
but a very common one is to close the curtains (drapes) at the windows,
particularly, at the front of a house in which someone has died as a
sign of mourning. The closed curtains wold naturally result in the
rooms, in this case the parlor, being darkened.

'What' is odd in that context. "Who' would be more natural. 'Brought you
up to' usually means the things your parents made a great effort to
teach you to do when you were a child, or else, their efforts to prepare
you for a specific profession.

Examples:
"How can you be so rude to that old lady? I'm sure your parents brought
you up to be polite to the elderly!"

"The Johnsons brought their oldest boy up to follow in his father's
footsteps and become a doctor.

Yes, the thing to do. Who/what taught you as a child that the
best/proper thing to do..

Not decorating, lying in state (although that phase is usually used of
dignitaries). In the old days, the bodies of family members would be
laid out, often in the best room of the house, the parlour or living
room. It would be darkened - I think that in some areas, all the drapes
and blinds in a house would be closed after a death.

The bereaved mother can't bear the memory of her husband talking about
something ordinary like birch fencing and taking care of digging the
grave while their son lay dead in the parlour. The father wants to talk
of his dead son, but her grief is so extreme and unrelenting that
neither of them can find comfort or consolation with the other.

It's a very powerful poem.