At Grass, Wants, Reasons for Attendance Flashcards
Larkin
‘From the ___________ shade they shelter in’
cold
What technique is used here: ‘The cold shade they shelter in’? (At Grass)
pathetic fallacy
In At Grass, why does Larkin refer to ‘the cold shade [the horses] shelter in’?
To convey how, at the beginning of the poem, the horses seem neglected and vulnerable.
‘stands __________ again’ (At Grass)
anonymous
In the first stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as being ‘anonymous’?
To suggest that they lack a proper or meaningful identity.
‘Two dozen distances sufficed to __________ them’ (At Grass)
fable
What technique is used here - ‘Silks at the start: against the sky/Numbers and parasols’? (At Grass)
sibilance
Why does Larkin use sibilance in the lines - ‘Silks at the start: against the sky/Numbers and parasols’? (At Grass)
To capture the noise and energy of the race meeting, and therefore the excitement and intensity of the horses’ former identity.
‘Do _________ plague their ears like flies?’ (At Grass)
memories
In At Grass, what does the speaker question when he says - ‘Do memories plague their ears like flies’?
He questions whether the horses are saddened by the memories of their former exciting lives.
‘they have slipped their ____________’ (At Grass)
names
‘the ___________ meadows’
unmolesting
In the penultimate stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as living in ‘umolesting meadows’?
It shows that they are now left alone and have found a form of peace through being at one with the natural world.
In the final stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as having ‘slipped their names’?
They have gained a kind of freedom through ‘anonymity’ - they are no longer controlled or defined by the human world.
Does At Grass use a regular rhyme scheme?
Yes. There in an ABC rhyme scheme.
What is the correct term for a six-line stanza, like those used in At Grass?
sestets
The Poem Wants explores the conflict between the wants and desires of the _____________ and those of ___________.
speaker/society.