A Smile and a sigh

Question 1

A smile & a sigh: Title

Answer 1

Juxtaposition of ‘smile and a sigh’, opposing emotional response indicates a passage of time/change in attitude with time, reflecting the range of emotions a person can experience throughout life.

Question 2

A smile & a sigh: Stanza 1 key quotes
1. ‘A s b t n a s!’
2. ‘L…m a f i t…t w m’

Answer 2

Entire stanza focuses on vitality and exuberant joy in life.

1. ‘A smile because the nights are short!’ = seasonal symbolism = summertime which would suggest the peak of one’s life, youthfulness, perhaps the very beginning of a relationship (the honeymoon stage).
2. ‘Love…makes & finds its treasure…treasure without measure’ - rhyme of treasure & measure = lyricism and the poetic beauty of this stage of life. The financial connotations of ‘treasure’ reinforce the value of life & experience of love which should be treasured forever.

Question 3

Stanza 2 key quotes: Contrasting/juxtaposing sentiments to suggest a dampening of teh positivity of Stanza 1:

1. ‘A s b t n a l’
2. ‘L l t d’
3. ‘A b s e s’

Answer 3

1. ‘A sigh because the nights are long!’ -syntactic parallelism of the 1st lines = subverts the vivacity of the 1st stanza with pessimism. Suggests a devolution or degeneration/deterioration of the relationship.
2. ‘Long long these days…’ - assonance & repitition of ‘long’ elongates & dramatizes the length of daily existence to exaggerate the agonising existence of the speaker & ultimately conclude that earthly existence is demoralising.
3. ‘A burden saddens every song’ = song as a metaphor for emotion, musical, lyrical expression of joy yet it is tinged with melancholy, suggesting that the speaker cannot truly derive total joy in life as they are plagued by mental strain & stress. Perhaps a loss in terms of death or freedom (may be restrained by marriage) has quelled natural joy.

Question 3

A smile & a Sigh: AO5:

Answer 3

Bowra: Love [of God] released a melancholy desire for death