There is a stark contrast between tradition and modernity. Tradition refers to the age-old culture that is being transferred to us through our ancestors. Modernity refers to contemporary behavior.
In the poem, the poet tells how her great grandmother is attached to her husband and dies with her husband, lines from the poem which shows are - “God is her only feast; worldly pleasures become mere condiments to her afterward.” This shows that women in ancient times were deeply connected to their better halves and believed their life to end after their death. The connection of the 300-year-old house with grandmother is very pure and old.