A Minor Role Flashcards
‘I’m best observed on stage’
- Extended metaphor of theatre and performance.
- Speaker more comfortable with a form of acting - feel less vulnerable, more structured, refuse facing the difficulty of dealing with illness.
‘Propping a spear’
‘my servant’s patter’
Speakers perceives their role/duty as insignificant, serving the main performer - secondary.
‘my heart’s in the unobtrusive, The waiting-room roles’
Shift in setting from a theatre to a hospital, from the fictional to the real drama.
‘driving to hospitals, parking at hospitals, holding hands under veteran magazines, making sense of consultants’ monologues’
Asyndetic listing, using participle verbs, conveys the speaker’s attempt to control, organise or make sense of something that is fundamentally uncontrollable.
‘asking pointed questions politely’ ‘getting on terms with receptionists’ ‘the background music of civility (metaphor)’
Language is connected to politeness - speaker feels this need to maintain an upbeat, positive mood, despite a serious illness.
‘Contrive meals..track down whimsical soft-centred happy-all-the-way-through-novels, find the cat, cancel things, tidy things, pretend all’s well, Admit it’s not.’
Speaker contrasts the pretense of everyday life with the reality of her life.
‘yearnings for a simpler illness, like a broken leg’
Simile shows her desire for a temporary, treatable illness.
‘Not the star part.’
Split line returns to initial ideas of the speaker in the background, a secondary character.
‘I jettison the speer, the servant’s tray, the terrible drone of Chorus’
Removes the props of her performance - symbolises the speaker’s move away from the minor role, and almost stops being apart of this background collective.
‘No it wouldn’t!’
Caesura emphasises her blunt change of tone.
‘I am here to make you believe in life’
Separate from final line - ends the poem in a hopeful, determined, resilient tone. Speaker, rather than minor role, realises her responsibility to provide this belief that life is possible and worth-living.
