A Wife in london - analysis Flashcards
‘The Tragedy’
title sets up the expectation of bad news - there’s a sense of inevitability to
‘tawny vapour’
- poor air quality
- adjective suggest a dull, brown, foggy London. language is ominous + may indicate darkness + highlights the tragedy about to happen - her whole world covered in gloom. may suggest a stark contrast to the place her husband died
‘city lanes have uprolled’
mist rolling up the streets. poor houses close together
‘webby fold on fold’
spider web imagery evokes a feeling of poverty, entrapment + anxiety. as a widow, further trapped
‘like a waning taper’
(candlelight)
a thin candle often used to light lamps. ‘waning’ - going out /diminishing.
simile imply that light of her life is going out, perhaps with her hopes for the future
‘glimmers cold’
oxymoron with waning taper
no comfort or warmth in the streetlight, it adds anticipation of bad news
‘knocks cracks smartly’
onomatopoeia: gunshots. violet harsh effect
sibilance: impersonal note of messenger
‘flashed news….dazes to understand’
(telegram)
she relieves a message to tell her that her husband has died. news is speedy + difficult to take in + struggle to comprehend
‘shaped so shortly’
sibilance
creates a pace + mirrors the urgency of the news
‘-has fallen-‘
(dead) = euphemism - trying to divert horror
dashes mimic style of telegram. create pauses reflecting the idea that the new hasn’t sunk in
‘The irony’
after his death, she ironically receives a letter from him
‘fog hangs thicker’
pathetic fallacy. shows grief settling in. fog is ominous + can cover things up like communication in war
‘postman nears and goes’
- adds to wife’s loneliness + isolation
- emphasis the nir sloth of post man’s round. maybe reinforces normality if casualties + bereavements of war
‘a letter is brought’
another letter. the structure mirrors stanza 2 creating suspense
‘firelight flicker’
theme of light echoes the street lamp in stanza 1. inevitability of repetition
