A Minor Role - UA Fanthorpe Flashcards
What is A Minor Role about? (4 points)
This poem challenges the reader to think of the meaning of roles that we assume in life, what they mean, whether they are consciously adopted or whether society imposes them
The metaphor of the stage is used to reflect on the life of the dying speaker - she is the focus of attention and those around her watch for signs of weakness
She feels forced by pressure to present herself as happy or to genuinely feel happy - an act of social pretence
Society gives her false hope and an admission that life is better than death
What is the structure of A Minor Role? (3 points)
The poem comprises six irregular-length stanzas with irregular line length, perhaps to suggest wayward and random thoughts expressed as they occur to the speaker
Lines are enjambed to enhance the free but uneven flow and sentences are of irregular length - creates a choppy rhythm, as if the speaker is thinking aloud or talking to a listener as ideas occur to her
Punctuation - colons, semi-colons, parentheses and question marks - create pauses (caesurae) that also contribute to the awkward rhythm and sense of immediacy
What is the language and imagery of A Minor Role? (4 points)
The voice is that of the speaker using the first person singular ‘I’ - a dramatic monologue as if the speaker is addressing an unseen friend, and the reader pieces together the meaning
The tone is conversational, as if she is thinking aloud, making terse comments as they come into her head
The speaker uses imperatives throughout, for example, ‘getting on, getting better’ as if she is giving herself a talking-to, admonishing herself for weakness.
Two ideas dominate; one of the stage and the other hospitals and illness
