'cozy apologia' - rita dove

Question 1

describe the context of ‘cozy apologia’:

Answer 1

• contemporary poet.
• seen advent of 21st century.
• hurricane floyd: very powerful hurricane, struck east coast of USA in 1999. dove had a first hand experience of this event.
• people along this east coast were evacuated (4th largest evacuation in American history).
• 76 people died in total, due to mass floods, $65 billion worth of damages.

Question 2

analyse the title ‘cozy apologia’ (-for fred):

Answer 2

• cozy = snug and warm. apologia = a written defence of something. ‘a defence of coziness’.
• Dove is defending the warm feelings she has for her husband, despite the chaos of Hurricane Floyd?
• ‘-for fred’ shows the poem is autobiographical (Dove’s husband is named Fred). shows the idea of love even more.

Question 3

analyse the first stanza of the poem:

Answer 3

imagery:
- ‘my pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page’. writing reminds Dove of her husband, he’s equally - if not more - important to her. references that he’s also a writer.

structure:
- 5 pairs of rhyming couplets (poetic form, traditionally associated with romance). could suggest tradition or simplicity (just like their love).

language:
- pronouns ‘i’ and ‘you’ create intimate tone, addressed to specific person (to Fred).

Question 4

how is love portrayed as cliched and traditional in the first stanza?

Answer 4

• ‘i could choose any hero’ establishes traditionally romantic mood.
• ‘and chain mail glinting, to set me free’ cliched image of love suggests their love is traditional. knight in shining armour. humorous.

Question 5

analyse the second stanza:

Answer 5

imagery:
- mocks Hurricane Floyd (traditionally names after women), doesn’t take it seriously despite having been directly impacted by it? personified as a playground bully, undermining its power and devastation.

structural:
- caesura and enjambment disrupt stanza’s rhythm. structure reflects content: chaos and disruption increase as Floyd grows closer. despite her attempts to mock the hurricane, nature is much more powerful than man. ‘all business: compact disks’.
- stanza break makes final word, ‘Floyd’, stand out, signifying its importance in the poem.
- no regular rhyme scheme anymore - chaos.

language:
- ‘post-post modern age’ conversational tone is created through sudden change of topic (written with her husband as a specific audience in mind). reader feels closer to her, like friends. more likely to believe the love she’s described earlier in the poem.
- IN THIRD STANZA: ‘(twin desks, computers, hardwood floors)’ strengthens conversational tone.

Question 6

analyse the third stanza:

Answer 6

imagery:
- ‘Aerie, i’m perched in mine’ (aerie is a nest of a bird of prey) by comparing herself to a bird, she diminishes the threat of hurricane floyd. she feels at home in the storm, rather than feeling threatened.

structure:
- last line of the poem uses the pronouns ‘i’ and ‘you’ - much like the first line. full circle, completeness. representative of their complete love.
- rhyme scheme is once again regular, but different to before (Floyd has gone away, but has had an impact).

language:
- contrasting language between ‘content’ (quite ordinary) and ‘Divine’, highlighting that Dove is aware their love is nothing special, yet she cherishes it all the same.
- ‘and yet’ negative care shows she doesn’t care what people think of her love for Fred, or if it’s ‘hardly news-worthy’.

Question 7

describe the mood throughout the poem:

Answer 7

• loving tone created when Dove writed about her husband, e.g. ‘think of you’.
• however, when discussing Hurricane Floyd or her childhood crushes, she uses a mocking tone, e.g. ‘hollow’, suggesting Fred is superior.
• positive when Fred is being discussed, and more negative/critical when someone/something else is being discussed.

Question 8

what is the motivation for writing ‘cozy apologia’?

Answer 8

• Dove celebrates the ordinariness of adult love compared to ‘hollow’ teenage love.
• this may be used as a means to distract from ‘Big Bad Floyd’, has, despite her attempts to mock it, has had an impact on human life, shown by the disorder it brings to the poem’s overall disorder.
• Dove shows that both nature and love have power, but love is superior.

Question 9

what are themes in ‘cozy apologia’?

Answer 9

• power (power of nature/power of love, or both).
• nature (Hurricane Floyd).
• love (Dove’s love for her husband).
• mankind (about human relationships, and how man copes with nature).