An Easy Passage Flashcards
1
Q
Adolscence vs adulthood
A
- Adolescence, in this poem, is a time of uncertainty that is both dangerous and exhilarating. Having snuck out with her friend, the girl is now “trembling” on the “porch roof” of her house, scared of making the wrong move and tumbling to the ground below. She knows that what she’s doing is dangerous, but she’s also thrumming with the excitement of being “half in love” with her friend and breaking the rules set by her mother, who “doesn’t trust her [] with a key.” The precariousness of her situation has her laser-focused and feeling “lit, as if from within.” In other words, the danger and uncertainty add intensity to the moment, making her feel more alive.
- On a symbolic level, the girl’s tricky journey back through the window of her house represents the line she is getting ready to cross from adolescence into adulthood. Her being “halfway there” and getting ready to “lean in” with the “length of her whole body” suggests that she’s on the cusp of adulthood and getting ready to make a major transition.
- In contrast to the exhilaration of adolescence, the poem paints adulthood as dreary and dull. Across the street from the girls, “workers [are going] about their business.” The stark contrast of the girls’ colorful struggle with the “drab” (or dull) “electroplating factory” suggests that adulthood is less precarious than adolescence, but also less interesting
2
Q
Once she is …
… family’s house, trembling,
A
- The poem grabs the reader’s attention right away, not wasting any time in creating tension and suspense: a girl is climbing “the porch roof of her family’s house.” The fact that the girl is “crouched in her bikini” suggests that she snuck out to go swimming, and the fact that she is “halfway up” rather than halfway down reveals that she’s not on her way out, but is rather now trying to get back inside without being noticed.
- That “halfway up there” has symbolic resonance as well. The girl isn’t just halfway up the roof, but also halfway between childhood and adulthood. Readers will learn later that the girl is 13 years old, and thus is entering adolescence. She’s no longer just a child, but also isn’t yet a fully grown adult.
- The house feels symbolic here as well: it’s not “the girl’s” house but “her family’s,” a phrase that implies two things:
The house is a place of familiarity and comfort. It’s linked with family and the security of childhood.
The house makes her feel stifled and restricted. She doesn’t entirely belong there, because she is no longer just a child.
3
Q
she knows that …
… somewhere beneath her,
A
- The speaker says that the girl has to do everything she can not to “think / of the narrow windowsill, the sharp / drop of the stairwell.” In other words, thinking about the dangers at hand—the possibility of falling from the roof—is only going to freak her out.
- Of course, trying specifically not to think of something often has the opposite effect! And the staccato /p/ consonance in “sharp / drop” might even subtly evoke the very thing she’s trying not to think of: the sound of her body falling and hitting a hard surface.
- Instead of thinking about this unpleasant possibility, the speaker says, the girl needs to “keep her mind / on the friend with whom she is half in love.” Perhaps the girl has romantic feelings for her friend “waiting for her on the blond” (or pale, light-colored) “gravel somewhere beneath her,” or perhaps the speaker is simply referencing the intensity of adolescent friendships—which often involve an intimacy and passion that adult friendships lack.
- By now, readers have gotten a sense of the poem’s structure—or, more accurately, its lack of structure. The poem uses frequent enjambment and long, winding syntax to draw out the tension of the scene. The first 13 lines of the poem are all one sentence, leaving the reader little chance to stop and catch their breath. This dizzying intro evokes the girl’s own breathlessness as she clings to the roof. The use of enjambed lines keeps things moving, perhaps reflecting the way that the girl’s muscles must stay engaged the entire time she’s up there—there’s no time for her to stop and relax or second-guess her decision. The momentum created by all this enjambment is also suggestive of the way in which adolescence progresses into adulthood: at breakneck, whirlwind speed.
4
Q
keep her mind …
… of the house.
A
- After a brief caesura (or pause) indicated by a comma, the speaker repeats the phrase “keep her mind on.” This repetition suggests the kind of intense focus that the girl needs to have if she is going to pull off this risky stunt; she must think only of her friend and not the danger of what she’s doing.
- The speaker then adds that the girl also has to focus on “the open window” that she’s trying to reach in order to climb back inside the house. This window’s “lever” (or handle) is “flimsy” and “hole-punched,” suggesting it might very well fall off when she grabs it!
- Yet that’s where she must direct “the length of her whole body, leaning in / to the flank of the warm house.” The word “flank” refers to the side of a person or animal, and thus subtly personifies the house as a warm, inviting presence. This makes sense, considering it’s a place linked to her parents and childhood. Though sneaking out suggests that the girl is pushing at the boundaries of her independence, at the end of the day she is still not yet a grown-up and wants to return to the enveloping comfort of her family home. In this way, the house becomes symbolic of the childhood she has yet to leave behind.
- Liquid /l/ consonance throughout these lines (“flimsy, hole-punched, aluminium lever,” “length of her whole body, leaning in,” etc.) evokes the fluidity the girl needs not only to make it through this dangerous endeavor but also to make it through the transition between childhood and adulthood. Adolescence, the poem implies, is a slippery time in one’s life!
5
Q
But first she …
… on her thighs.
A
- Before the girl can pass through the window into her house (and symbolically return to being a child for a little longer), she “steadies herself, still crouching, the grains of the asphalt / hot beneath her toes and fingertips.” The imagery of her “crouching” is suggestive of the awkward, in-between stage of life she is in; just as crouching is neither standing nor sitting, the girl is neither an adult yet nor still a child. The “hot[ness]” of the “asphalt,” meanwhile, evokes the discomfort of being in such a position—one can’t stay that way for long!
- The speaker then uses a metaphor to compare the rooftop to “a square of petrified” (or fossilized) “beach.” On the one hand, this is simply more evocative imagery (and imagery that relates to the idea that the girl snuck out earlier to go swimming with her friend). Calling the asphalt “petrified,” however, also implies that the house is a relic of the past, stuck in time. And, as such, the girl can’t stay in it forever.
- The speaker then reminds readers of the girl’s youth by saying that her “Her tiny breasts / rest lightly on her thighs.” She has just begun her adolescence and is neither totally a child nor an adult woman.
6
Q
What can she …
… of the street,
A
- The word “grow” here refers to both literally growing (as in one’s body getting bigger) and generally growing up. The older and bigger the girl gets, the speaker implies, the less acceptance she’ll find. Basically, the speaker is suggesting that adulthood lacks the freedom and flexibility of youth.
- This is also the first time that the speaker has clearly inserted themselves into the poem, and the question implies that the speaker is an adult woman looking back on her own youth with nostalgia (perhaps this girl is a younger version of the speaker, or maybe she is a different girl who simply reminds the speaker of themselves).
- But the girl isn’t yet grown. And, the speaker says, “For now both girls seem / lit, as if from within.” The two young girls seem to glow with some internal light, which symbolizes all the promise and excitement of their youth. The phrase “for now,” however, forebodingly suggests that the girls’ luminescence is temporary and will diminish with age.
- The speaker goes on to further describe the girls’ glow, pointing out their “hair” and “the gold stud / earrings in the first one’s ears.” These luminous images stand in stark contrast to “the long, grey / eye of the street” that separates them from the first girl’s mother. The metaphor of the street as “a long, grey / eye” suggests that adulthood is monotonous, colorless, and predictable.
7
Q
who does not …
… looks up now
A
- The girl’s mother “does not trust her daughter with a key,” which suggests that the mother doesn’t view her daughter as mature or responsible enough to come and go as she pleases.
- Yet the speaker also says that the girl and her friend are both “far away” from this mother right now, just as they are “far away” from “the workers about their business in the drab / electroplating factory over the road.” This distance isn’t just physical, but also metaphorical: the girls have yet to contend with the concerns and drudgery of adult life, be it the mother’s caution or the worker’s bland routines.
- This alliteration adds intensity to the image of this blushing secretary, who stands in as a kind of foil to the girl on the roof. The speaker is drawing attention to the juxtaposition between the teenage girls, who are vividly focused on the present, and the wistful daydreaming of the secretary, who is imagining the future, filled with interesting classes and trips, as a means of escape from the drudgery of her current situation.
8
Q
from the stirring …
… a pale calf,
A
- The secretary isn’t just daydreaming about the future, but also looking at “the stirring omens of the astrology column.” The “stirring” here is likely facetious or tongue-in-cheek. That is, the “omens” (signs/predictions) from an astrology column aren’t really all that exciting, and they instead point to the secretary’s desire to escape from or add more interest and meaning to her humdrum life. One way or another, she is hoping something will happen to shake up her routine.
- The secretary is then distracted from her daydreams by the sight of “a girl—thirteen if she’s a day—standing / in next to nothing in the driveway opposite.”
- The alliteration in “next to nothing” draws attention to the girl’s innocence: she’s unselfconsciously dressed in a bikini. The imagery of the next line then emphasizes how sunny and bright it is outside. The girl’s friend must “shield” her eyes as she looks up at her friend. Remember, too, that earlier the speaker described both girls as seeming “lit, as from within.” Their world—the world of youth—is sparkling and intense, a far cry from the drab office building in which the adult secretary sits.
9
Q
a silver anklet …
… of the house.
A
- The poem zooms back in on the teenage girl who is passing back through the window into her house. The speaker describes the scene seemingly from the second girl’s perspective, who is standing below and looking up at her friend.
- As the first girl climbs through the window, the second girl sees “a silver anklet and the five neat shimmering- /oyster-painted toenails of an outstretched foot.” In other words, the girl’s toenails have been deftly painted with the color of an oyster shell and are glimmering in the sunlight.
- More specifically, the speaker says that the nail polish “catch[es] the sunlight […] like the / flash of armaments”—or that is, like the flash of artillery or gunfire. On the one hand, this simile just speaks to the intensity of youth. To these girls, the world is bright, vivid, and maybe even overwhelming. It’s far different from the “grey” street or the “drab” factory across the street. This simile also might suggest that there’s something violent and dangerous about the intensity of adolescence.
- Either way, this “flash” is temporary. For a little longer, the girl remains a child, “dropping gracefully into the shade of the house.” Her return to the “shade[d]” interior of the family’s house suggests that she is not yet ready to be a fully independent person—she remains dependent on her family.
10
Q
The Passage
A
The girl’s passage from the exterior “porch roof of her family’s house” to the interior “shade of the house” symbolizes her transition from adolescence to adulthood. Just as the girl is trying to get back in through an open window and in danger of falling, so too is she on the edge of adulthood, a scary time in her life when things feel intense and dangerous but also thrilling. The fact that she’s “halfway” to the window and “crouching”—a position somewhere between sitting and standing—further reflects the fact that as she’s in between being a kid and being an adult.
11
Q
The House
A
- The house into which the girl tries to sneak represents the comforting world of her childhood. The girl is starting to test the waters of adulthood, but she hasn’t left her childhood behind entirely. She’s still positioned “on the porch roof” of the home, which represents her straddling the line between being a kid and being a grown-up.
- That the house has a “warm flank” against which the girl presses her body suggests that it’s a place of familiarity and security. At the same time, the fact that the poem refers to it as “her family’s house” rather than simply “her house” suggests that the girl doesn’t feel totally free or self-sufficient within its walls. To her, it seems, the world of childhood is safe but also a bit restrictive. And while the girl’s toes sparkle in the sunlight, the house is a place of “shade”—suggesting that it shields her from both the harsh light and the excitement of the outside world.
12
Q
Form
A
- The poem is made up of 38 lines that form one long stanza. Sentences are enjambed across multiple lines; in fact, the entire second half of the poem (lines 19 through 38) is a single sentence with twisting, sinuous syntax.
- This echoes the girl’s precarious climb as she navigates getting back into the house through an open window, and draws out the tension of the dangerous situation she’s in. It also highlights the metaphorical journey the girl is on from adolescence to adulthood. This journey isn’t made up of discrete chapters but is rather a stretch of time in which the girl goes from being on the outside of adulthood (just as she is on the outside of the house) to “gracefully” becoming an adult.
- The single stanza also emphasizes the way the girl is utterly absorbed in the task at hand; she can’t afford to look away or consider the consequences if she were to fall from her perch. In this way, the poem suggests that part of the intensity of adolescence is that its intrinsic difficulties force one to be completely present for it—unlike the humdrum responsibilities of adulthood.
13
Q
Meter
A
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it doesn’t follow any set meter. It unfolds casually and conversationally, and it uses a combination of other devices (such as enjambment) to achieve its subtle rhythms and momentum.
