Cozy Apologia

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

Love and Relationship

Sense of Place

Question 2

Subject

Answer 2

As a hurricane approaches, the speaker takes refuge in her study and thinks about her partner
She compares him to everyday objects as well as a traditional knight in shining armour (in a gently mocking way)
She then reflects on a range of topics, such as modern life, the hurricane and old boyfriends before returning to her current relationship
She says their love is ordinary but genuine

Question 3

Cozy Apologia

Answer 3

Apologia is a text written in defence of something
“Defence of cosiness”
she is defending their love, against what society wants, just because it is “ordinary”, it does not mean that their “happiness” is compromised in any way

Question 4

Imagery

Answer 4

• She uses everyday object and uses it to link to love for Fred, emphasises that their love is ordinary - not an unrealistic ideal of love, “content but fall short of the Divine”
• She uses the cliched and exaggerated imagery of the knight in shining armour to create humour as she gently mocks it while reinforcing their happy relationship, it prevents the poem from becoming too sentimental

Question 5

Language

Answer 5

-she uses colloquial language to make the poem seem personal and to contribute to the humour
“for Fred”
-She uses the weather as an important theme throughout the poem, however, it is explored as welcome rather than destructive as it releases her from her work.
shown by the enjambment and caesurae to show abruptness but gives her the time to reflect on her relationship
the sibilance from line 16-18 create the sounds of the small mini-storms of the previous boyfriends

Question 6

Tone

Answer 6

Love - she uses cliched images to describe her love for Fred and compares him to her previous “worthless” boyfriends
Safety - the speaker feels safe and protected in the relationship and against the storm
Apology - the title suggests that the poem is written in defence of her content relationship, embarrassed by her love, self-aware and poking fun

Question 7

Structure

Answer 7

• written in free verse - makes it sound conversational
• The poem uses 1st person making it sound personal
• The first stanza uses regular rhyming couplets, like a traditional love poem
• The rhyme is disrupted in the middle of the second stanza perhaps to show the disruption brought by the storm
• However another rhyming pattern is established showing how she is “filled in the stolen time” with Fred
• 3 stanzas, a triangle, sturdy and strong defence
• she ends it on “you”