An Easy Passage

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

• Imagery - poem is filled with vivid, detailed images -> helps to evoke the danger and precariousness of the girls situation and the excitement of being young
• One long stanza - echoes the girl’s precarious climb as she navigates getting back into the house, also highlights the metaphorical journey the girl is on from adolescence to adulthood.
• Free verse - reflects how the journey isn’t made up of discrete chapters but is rather a stretch of time - it unfolds casually and is unpredictable
• Setting - the girl’s house represents the comforts and familiarity of childhood - the fact that she’s crouched ‘halfway’ symbolises her being halfway between childhood and adulthood - the thrilling dangers of her climb speak to the excitement of adolescence

Question 2

Copus

Answer 2

The speaker of the actual poem acts as an anonymous, omniscient narrator - they know what’s going on in the girl’s head and is also aware of things even the girl isn’t aware of but they never refer to themselves directly.
The rhetorical question is the closest they get to revealing anything about themselves and implies that the speaker is an adult, but it isn’t clear the relation.

Question 3

Context

Answer 3

2010 - coming of age, loss of innocence and the contrast between youth and adulthood are common themes. Copy’ poem may draw from her own experiences coming of age - the speakers nostalgia for the vibrance and freedom of adolescence is also markedly modern. The poem may be viewed as implicitly critical of a capitalist consumer society as the juxtaposition between the glowing teenage girls and the dull lives of adults working in factories implies how they diminish people + rob them of an essential time.
The Liminal Space and Freud’s theory of psychosexual development: theorised that individuals progress through psychosexual stages - poem captures this transition, mirroring the uncertainty and psychological tension of puberty

Question 4

‘Crouched in her bikini on..her family’s house…the narrow windowsill, the sharp drop of the stairwell’

Answer 4

• ‘Bikini’ - ‘crouched’ suggests vulnerability as if she’s both psychically and emotionally exposed, but the bikini emphasises the theme of femininity and sexualisation, reinforcing the idea that female bodies are often scrutinised or exposed to external judgement.
• Imagery of narrowness and sharp drops highlights the physical and symbolic dangers of adolescence, the windowsill is a threshold between inside and outside, safety and risk, just as adolescence is a threshold between childhood and adulthood
• The window sill is a physical manifestation of her liminal state. The windowsill could represent a threshold between the id-driven impulses of childhood and the superego-enforced rules of adulthood - a transition Freud saw as central to human development.

Question 5

‘She must keep her mind on the friend with whom she is half in love’

Answer 5

• ‘Must’ - imperative suggests an internal conflict; she is trying to mentally steady herself despite the instability of the moment -> reflects the pressure to navigate adolescence carefully, avoiding emotional or physical harm. Also shows her organised steps, mimicking the journey and hinting at the speaker already reaching womanhood as she acts cautiously and seemingly has it all planned out.
• ‘Half in love’ - captures the uncertain, experimental emotions of he youth; ambiguity suggests platonic admiration, attraction of a deep emotional bond - reflecting the complex nature of teenage friendships -> fluidity of love and identity ties to self-discovery during adolescence

Question 6

‘What can she know’

Answer 6

• Poetic intrusion - acts as a warning, as if the writer is watching over the girl; could be a warning for how sexuality is approached l.w. decade
• Subverts the title, hints at this not being an easy passage