Dry Point, Myxomatosis and Spring Flashcards
Larkin Revision
‘____________- shadowed people’ (Spring)
Green
‘children finger the ___________ grass’ (Spring)
awakened
What technique is used here: ‘children finger the awakened grass’ (Spring)?
personification
‘___________ a cloud stands, __________ a bird sings’ (Spring)
calmly
‘____________ my pursed-up way across the park’ (Spring)
threading
What does the word gratuitous mean, and in which poem is it used?
Gratuitous = free/giving. This is used in Spring to present the natural world as unrestricted and plentiful.
What technique is used here: ‘Is fold of untaught flower, is race of water // Is earth’s most multiple, excited daughter (Spring)?
Anaphora. This presents the natural world as multiple and vast in its beauty.
‘earth’s most multiple, excited ___________’ (Spring)
daughter
Why does Larkin compare spring to ‘earth’s most multiple, excited daughter’? (Spring)
To present it as a time of new life, energy and vibrance.
What does the word craven mean, and in which poem is it used?
craven = cowardly. This is used in Spring, as the narrator suggests that the path he has chosen, which is different to broader societal norms, is seen by some as odd and cowardly.
Why does Larkin use an AB rhyme scheme in the first stanza of Spring?
The simple upbeat rhyme scheme is perhaps intended to represent the simple energy and joys of the spring season.
What is the effect of the punctuation used in Spring? ‘…the balls that bounce, the dogs that bark, The branch-arrested mist of leaf, and me,’
The caesura ‘, and me,’ shows a clear divide between the speaker and the vibrant spring season being described. Although he admires the vibrance of nature, he also feels removed from it.
In 1961, what was introduced in the UK that gave women greater independence?
The contraceptive pill
What was the 1960s called by some - conveying how it was seen as a time of increased freedoms and liberation?
The ‘swinging 60s’
‘__________ time-honoured irritant’ (Dry Point)
endlessly
‘endleslly time-honoured ____________’ (Dry Point)
irritant
What does the word ‘restively’ mean and in which poem does it appear?
restively = cannot be controlled. This appears in Dry Point - ‘a bubble is restively forming…’ - to describe the uncontrollable nature of sexual desire.
‘______________, intent, real’ (Dry Point)
bestial
What does the word bestial mean, and in which poem does it appear?
bestial = animal-like. This appears in Dry Point, suggesting how sexual desire makes us savage and primitive.
What technique is used here, and why? ‘the bright blown walls collapse’ (Dry Point)
Plosive alliteration - this represents a moment of sexual release.
‘What ______ hills, what salted, shrunken lakes’ (Dry Point)
ashen
In Dry Point, why does the speaker, after gratifying his sexual desires, refer to ‘ashen hills’ and ‘shrunken lakes’?
The barren, hopeless landscapes metaphorically represent how, even after giving in to his sexual desires, he is left unfulfilled and empty.
What is ‘Birmingham magic’ and why is is ‘discredited’? (Dry Point)
Birmingham magic refers to the city, which in the 1940s and 1950s was known for its jewelry and wedding rings. This becomes ‘discredited’, as sexual desire shows marriage to be a lie.
What does the ‘padlocked cube of light’ symbolise in Dry Point?
The ‘cube of light’ symbolises a state of purity and innocence, free from the corrupting influence of sexual desire. However, the speaker suggests that this is a state he will never be able to achieve - it it ‘padlocked’ meaning he can ‘obtain no right of entry’.
What is Myxomatosis?
A deadly disease that affects rabbits
Caught in the centre of a ___________ field’ (Myxomatosis)
soundless
What does the word inexplicable mean, and in which poem does it feature?
inexplicable = can’t be explained. This is used in Myxomatosis (‘hot inexplicable hours’) to show how the rabbit is left ignorant and powerless.
What technique is used here? ‘Where were its teeth concealed?’ (Myxomatosis)
Personification. The myxomatosis virus is depicted as an external predator, showing the rabbit’s ignorance about the nature of death.
‘You may have thought things would come right again/If you could only keep quite still and ____________’ (Myxomatosis)
wait
What does the word ‘suppurate’ mean, and in which poem does it feature?
Suppurate = to rot/fester. This is used in Myxomatosis (‘in what jaws you were to suppurate’) to convey the brutal, inescapable fate of the rabbit.
What is the significance of the form used in Myxomatosis here: ‘‘You seem to ask. // I make a sharp reply’
The line break symbolises how the speaker ends the rabbit’s life with his ‘sharp reply’. However, this is an act of compassion, relieving the rabbit of the pain caused by the Myxomatosis virus.
