A Wife in London Flashcards

1
Q

Form:

A

2 parts, shows the way that her life changed completely and irrevocably because of his death

The speaker is an observer, detached tone subverts the visceral nature of grief. Inevitability due to war? Harsh message

Irregular rhythm and dashes (mimic the style of a telegram) crate pauses which shows wife’s lack of comprehension, focusses the reader’s attention on the wife’s plight and gives disjointed sense. Asymmetrical rhyme scheme (ABBAB) broken once ‘smartly’ and ‘shortly’ shows lack of comprehension.

Caesura slows place

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2
Q

Structure:

A

The wife learns of her husband’s death, then received a delayed letter from him about how he looks forward to the future. This exploits the sadness and the irony of the poem and shows how her life is irrevocably changed without him. Also the escalated repeated descriptions show the delayed onset of her grief and her eventual realisation

Reader has to wait till stanza 4 to get to know what was said in the letter

Titles - factual description enhance detached tone. Sense of inevitability and uneasiness.

New love right at the end is indicative of the tragedy, how the love was cut short and her happiness stood with the end-stop of the final line.

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3
Q

Language:

A

semantic field of sorrow and regret

Lots of pathetic fallacy- the fog creates a suffocating image and also delayed onset

Cold imagery symbolises corpse and cold narrator and cold loss of love and cold inhuman nature of war

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4
Q

Tawny vapour

A

Pathetic fallacy - she is yet in the dark

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5
Q

Like a warning taper

A

Simile causes anticipation

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6
Q

Glimmers cold

A

Chilling imagery

Hope dwindling

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7
Q

Semantic field of war

A

Cracks
Flashed
Dazes

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8
Q

He-has fallen-in

A

Euphemism , makes it less painful

Dashes cause reading to slow down, illustrates her trying to comprehend his death

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9
Q

The fog hands thicker

A

Metaphor - her own sadness is weighing her down and she feels trapped

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10
Q

Firelight flicker

A

Fricatives show the rarity of light

She is sitting in the dark, mourning

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11
Q

Fresh-firm-penned in highest feather

A

He was excited

She still can not comprehend how much she’ll miss him

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12
Q

Home-planned haunts by brake and burn

A

Juxtaposition, fond imagery followed by violent Lexis

Plosives are harsh

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13
Q

New love

A

Smack! Home run! Raw depression

Also are they having a child…?

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14
Q

Context

A

During the Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa, news of a British soldier’s death was sent by telegram, which was faster than normal post. Letters from the soldiers took longer to reach their families at home, as they were sent via normal post.

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15
Q

Irony

A

Language of future combined with optimistic tone increase pain

Pauses of ‘fresh’ , ‘firm’ focus on corporeal imagery - forcing us to pause and consider his youthful body contrasted with his corpse

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