An Easy Passage By Julia Copus Flashcards
Title: ‘An Easy Passage’
Irony as life is not always ‘an easy passage’ once you enter adulthood
Sounds like an ‘Uneasy passage’ reflecting tension and discomfort of the girl’s position on the roof
Structure
Poem written in one continuous stanza representing freedom and the continuity of life - life has no set structure similarly to this poem having no set structure
No boundaries that adults face because she is young
Free verse - highlights uncertainty and lack of order of the journey through adolescence
Epic poem where the speaker goes through internal and external transitions in their journey
Context
Themes
Freedom vs confinement
Childhood vs Adulthood
Past vs Future
Aging vs Youth
Agenda:
‘An Easy Passage’ by Julia Copus explores the contrast between an innocent and naivety, young girl and an older woman who works as a secretary. The poem’s central concern is the exploration of the fleeting period between girlhood and womanhood.
Section 1:
‘Once she is halfway up there’
‘one thing she must not do is to think’
‘sharp drop’
‘keep her mind on her friend who she is half in love with’
-Poem starts with a conjunction so we don’t know the story behind how the girl ended up in this situation in the first place - This is symbolic of how most adults fail to understand the mind of a teenager
The attributive adjective ‘halfway’ acts as symbolism to the girl being halfway through growing up - Experiencing puberty
-Adults often make the assumption that teenagers can’t make decisions for themself as they are unreliable. This could also mean that the girl doesn’t want to think about her future as she is enjoying living her blissful utopian life.
-The enjambment from the quote ‘sharp drop’ allows readers to physically see the drop of the phrase from one line to the next highlighting the abrupt change from childhood to adulthood
-Teenager’s priorities are typically socialising with friends and pleasing them to fit in socially
‘half in love’ could be interpreted as platonic love, sisterly love or romantic love - She is at the point in life where she is shaping her identity, developing forms of attraction and truly discovering one’s self
Section 2:
‘warm flank of the house.’
‘what can she know of the way the world admits us less and less the more we grow?’
‘for now’ repetition
-Place of familiarity and comfort - The house acts as her security however it also acts as a form of restriction. This is evident by the use of the caesura that breaks the flow of consciousness. Additionally, the girl’s house is referred to as ‘the house’ rather than ‘her house’ She doesn’t truly feel a connection to her house
-Rhetorical question - Poet’s intrusion and philosophical point - The girl doesn’t know the harsh realities of the world - Repetition of ‘less’ indicates how the world is diminishing - the freedom anticipated by younger people when becoming an adult is false as once they are grown they have to meet the world’s harsh demands e.g rent
- The girls don’t have to face any struggles however this is only temporary
Section 3:
‘far away from the mother’
‘far too, most far, from the flush-faced secretary’
‘shielding her eyes to gaze up’
‘dropping gracefully into the shade of the house.’
-Mother’s envious nature of her daughters youth or distance due to her mother’s lack of understanding due to generational divide/gap
-Fricatives - contrast of exhilaration of adolescence - poem paints adulthood as dreary and dull - The girl wishes for something more stimulating in life - The secretary could be her future
-Refusal to believe any of the realities of adulthood
-The house doesn’t allow sunlight to enter, the sunlight is symbolic of the girl’s true identity or the house acts as a temporary protection for the girl as she grows up
Nuance
The poem could be said to be almost sexual, with mentions of “tiny breasts”, “her toes and fingertips”, “her whole body”, “her stomach”, “oyster-painted toenails”. However because it is about such a young girl, it is more innocent than sexualising her body. It’s more appreciating of her youthful beauty which disappears as she grows older until she’ll be stuck in a laborious job with an evening class as her only excitement – scheduled freedom.
