Distance Flashcards
TS1: Whereas the distance between the couple in ‘Winter Swans’ is emotional, in ‘Letters from Yorkshire’ it is physical. (winter swans)
‘We skirted the lake, silent and apart,’
L/D= verb suggests they are perhaps also skirting around the issue that has divided them emotionally.
Caesura in the line emphasizes their emotional separation and lack of communication.
TS1: Whereas the distance between the couple in ‘Winter Swans’ is emotional, in ‘Letters from Yorkshire’ it is physical. (letter from yorksire)
‘word of that other world… pouring air and light into an envelope’
L/I= alliteration – links word and world – his words make her feel closer to his world. Alternatively, the physical distance between them means his life feels like a different world to her own.
L = metaphor. She romanticises his words as being like light and air, which are both necessary for growth/to thrive.
I = his words come from a natural environment; hers from an implicitly urban environment. Alternatively, she finds his words a breath of fresh air that lift her spirits.
C = Dooley moved from rural Yorkshire to London – reflects her longing for the Yorkshire countryside.
TS2: Both poems use natural imagery to convey distance (letter)
‘he saw the first lapwings return’
C/I= lapwings return to the same place to mate each year. She is envious of his connection with nature; the phrase also implies that she wishes, like the lapwings, that she could return to her ‘mate’.
TS2: Both poems use natural imagery to convey distance (winter swans)
‘The clouds had given their all’
L = personification/pathetic fallacy. Reflects the stormy nature of their relationship, tears and arguments.
I= It implies they feel they have nothing left to give each other.
TS3: In ‘Winter Swans’ the swans are the catalyst to close the distance between them; in ‘Letters from Yorkshire’ written communication overcomes the distance between them. (Swans)
‘our hands…swum the distance’
L = literally and metaphorically. Simile emphasizes the swans are the catalyst for the change in mood of the relationship as swans mate for life. The couple reunites.
C = Sheers message may be that relationships need to be worked at; couples in modern society give up too easily on relationships.
TS3: In ‘Winter Swans’ the swans are the catalyst to close the distance between them; in ‘Letters from Yorkshire’ written communication overcomes the distance between them. (Letters)
‘our souls tap out messages’
L = metaphor & inclusive pronoun emphasizes their deep spiritual bond, which is conveyed through the written word and which connects them despite the physical distance between them.
winter swans uses structure to show the emotional distance between them closing while letters from yorkshire uses it to show the toll of distance (winter swans)
‘One over the other …… settling after flight’ ends in couplet emphasising how they are now together with nothing in between
winter swans uses structure to show the emotional distance between them closing while letters from yorkshire uses it to show the toll of distance (letters)
‘blank screen’
End stopped line
emphasises writes block and how difficult it can be for her to write sometimes. I= shows how distance makes her feel empty