Absence by Elizabeth Jennings (1958)

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

Time changes everything. Poet is reminiscing on a happy memory and thinking about how much his life has changed since he was last at the place. The place represents a loss in the speaker’s life. It once held warm and happy memories but now is cold and empty.

Question 2

Form and Structure

Answer 2

The poem has 3 stanzas each with five lines. They follow the standard ABAB rhyme scheme with 10 to 11 syllables in each line.

Question 3

’ I visited the place where we last met.’

Answer 3

The ‘we’ refers to a loss of a person/relationship. It may be due to a death or a relationship breakdown.

Question 4

‘Gardens were well-tended’

Answer 4

This means that life goes on and causes her to question how that can be.

Question 5

‘The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees’

Answer 5

This reveals the speaker’s sense of anger at the loss she has experienced. She wonders how the birds could go on singing in ecstasy when such a tragic loss has taken place.

Question 6

‘Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear’

Answer 6

She suddenly wondered how there could possibly be such a pain in the world when there was also such pleasure.

Question 7

‘It was because the place was just the same’

Answer 7

She was in a place that brought back sweeter memories, and yet reminded her of what she no longer had.

Question 8

‘An earthquake tremor’

Answer 8

There was an underlying pain that shook her to her core like an earthquake shakes the earth.