A Triad Flashcards
Title
Biblical reference to the trinity, completeness.
The poem elludes to three different stereotypes of woman, creating a cross section of female society.
“Three sang of love together”
Connected through song, presents the burden of womanhood.
The 1st woman.
“Crimson, with cheeks and bosom in a glow,
Flushed to the yellow hair and finger tips;”
Prostitute- presented through colour palette- connotations of red as lust, desire also red as a warning, evil.
Compartmentalisation represents her seductive nature, male gaze.
The 2nd Woman.
“And one there sang who soft and smooth as snow
Bloomed like a tinted hyacinth at a show”
The 2 nature similies represent the stereotype of the ‘Angel in the House’, however the second similie seems artificial.
Upholder of morals, wife, mother.
‘tinted’- suggests artificial/
‘hyacinth’- translates to jealousy.
Perhaps a sacrificial figure. ‘snow’ represents entrapment, loveless marriage?
The 3rd woman.
“And one was blue with famine after love”
She is without a partner, widow or spinster.
‘snapped rang harsh and low’- similie portrays the woman as a broken instrument, life cut short?
Rhyme scheme demonstrates that her social position is constant.
“Thus two or three Took death for love”
Cause and effect, detatchment of emotion collected through their deficit.
“One droned in sweetness like a fattened bee;
All on the threshold, yet all short of life.”
Mindless nature motif, ‘droned’ suggests monotony.
Restraint, inability to complete life ‘threshold’- All lacking something.
A03- ‘All’- connotes to sisterhood and societal captivity, a paradox of unfairness.
All said in life skewed towards male enjoymnent.
