A Wife in london Flashcards
What is the first section of the poem called?
The tragedy
What does the poem having two sections suggest
How the wife and soldier were seperated
“A wife in London”
what does the title suggest
‘A’ - indefinite article, suggests many people in same situation
‘Wife’ - only refers to her as ‘wife’ indicates that most important aspect of her is her marital status
What does the name of the first section ‘the tragedy’ create a sense of?
foreboding and inevitability
it foreshadows the soldiers eventual death
“she sits in the tawny vapour”
‘sits’ - has connotations of inactivity which suggests she’s powerless
‘tawny vapour’ - yellow fog that repeatedly covered London at time poem was set. fog creates eerie atmosphere
What is the phrase that creates the image of a candle burning down and what does it represent
“like a waning taper”
It represents the solders untimely death
“The street lamp glimmers cold”
oxymoron between ‘glimmers’ and ‘cold’. Wife will never feel warm/ happy again after husbands death
which phrase uses consonance in the second stanza
“knock cracks”
the phrase sounds harsh and violent
“Flashed news” - how does contextual knowledge back up that the news was important and sudden
It was only urgent news that was shown on the telegram - news that wasnt urgent was sent by post
“of meaning it dazes to understand”
The unusual syntax is almost riddle-like
This could represent the wifes shock
What punctuation is used at the end of the second stanza and what does it show
Ellipsis (…)
suggests wife cant read anymore of the telegram - too emotional
”- has fallen -“
dashes create a caesura which slows down the poem
‘has fallen’ - euphemistic language shows wife cant accept the news
What is the title of the second section and what does it imply
The Irony
suggests a slight shift
How is pathetic fallacy used in the first stanza of the second section
“Fog hangs thicker”
fog is associated with sadness and depression - what the wife is probably feeling
what is the mood of the poem?
poem starts as depressing + negative
later on becomes more hopeful after the wife receiving her husbands letter
