Afternoons

Question 1

structure

Answer 1

‘The leaves fall in ones and twos
From trees bordering
The new recreation ground’
- enjambment
- makes poem feel relentless
- just like the mundanity experienced by the people in the poem

Question 2

• ‘Setting free their children.’
• structure

Answer 2

-end stopped lines
- sense of finality
- the mundanity of everyday life is inescapable

Question 3

stanzas

Answer 3

• three stanzas of equal length
• everything is the same
• normal, everyday life is boring and cycle cannot be broken

Question 4

‘setting free…

Answer 4

…their children’

Question 5

‘setting free their children’

Answer 5

• domestic life is like a cage

Question 6

title - ‘afternoons’

Answer 6

• after noon, the peak of the day
• the ‘stage’ of a person’s life that could mirror
• “settling down stage”
• 30’s onwards

Question 7

‘From trees bordering
The new recreation ground.’

Answer 7

• image of control
• trees have been planted around the park on purpose
• suburban life
• seems overcontrolling

Question 8

‘an estateful…

Answer 8

…of washing’

Question 9

‘an estateful of washing’

Answer 9

• image emphasises how never-ending domestic work is
• women are trapped by domesticity

Question 10

‘lying near…

Answer 10

…the television’

Question 11

‘lying near the television’

Answer 11

• image suggests that love has mellowed and has become taken for granted

Question 12

‘summer…

Answer 12

…is fading’

Question 13

‘summer is fading’

Answer 13

• metaphor
• prime part of life is over

Question 14

‘unripe…

Answer 14

…acorns’

Question 15

‘unripe acorns’

Answer 15

• image of youth
• emphasises that children aren’t ready yet to take over from their parents

Question 16

‘their beauty…

Answer 16

…has thickened’

Question 17

‘their beauty has thickened’

Answer 17

• criticises the women’s physical appearance as they have gotten older
• sexist

Question 18

‘hollows’

Answer 18

• the afternoons are empty

Question 19

title - ‘afternoons’ - language

Answer 19

• pluralisation
• implies that all afternoons are the same - monotony

Question 20

‘summer…

Answer 20

…is fading’

Question 21

‘summer is fading’

Answer 21

• declarative sentence
• creates a neutral, observational tone

Question 22

‘young…

Answer 22

…mothers’

Question 23

‘young mothers’

Answer 23

• women’s identities are rooted in their motherhood
• lost their individuality

Question 24

‘skilled…

Answer 24

…trades’

Question 25

‘skilled trades’

Answer 25

• ordinary working-class people

Question 26

‘before them, the wind is…

Answer 26

…ruining their courting-places’

Question 27

‘before them, the wind is ruining their courting-places’

Answer 27

• lines suggest that women are powerless
• can only stand and watch as their ‘courting places’ are ruined

Question 28

‘expect to…

Answer 28

…be taken home’

Question 29

‘expect to be taken home’

Answer 29

• women are secondary in their own lives
• their children are more important

Question 30

‘(But the lovers…

Answer 30

…are all in school)’

Question 31

‘(But the lovers are all in school)’

Answer 31

• undermines love
• brackets make the line stand out
• emphasises that the next gen is destined to do the same as their parents
• life is monotonous

Question 32

‘something is pushing them…

Answer 32

…to the side of their own lives’

Question 33

‘something is pushing them to the side of their own lives’

Answer 33

• vague and observational
• clear that the women have become secondary in their own lives
• not clear how or why

Question 34

‘Behind them’

Answer 34

• prepositional phrase
• suggests that there is a distance between husbands and wives

Question 35

mood and tone

Answer 35

• initially observational - ‘summer is fading’ - declarative
• negative and cynical tone - ‘an estateful of washing’ , ‘their beauty has thickened’