First Flight Flashcards
context
sees poetry as conversation between poet and reader; evident in this poem as it is a dialogue
themes
memories; ideas of distance and how it can change perceptions; different attitudes towards travelling
structure
free verse
‘Plane moves. I don’t like the feel of it.’
simple statement to start poem; shows innocence of it being poet’s first time flying
‘A sudden swiftness, earth slithers/ Off at an angle. The experienced solidly’
sibilance to emphasise the feel of take off; gets cut off mid sentence so creates a sense of trepidation as the reader has to wait for the rest of the sentence
‘Number tiny-disc, a sun’
metaphor for the beautiful sunset and shows how high up they are
‘Under us a broad meringue kingdom’
metaphor for the clouds and shows how fluffy they must be and that the poet is in awe
‘That light spreads in an evening sea at home.’
personification to emphasise natural process; powerful language to show they are impressed
‘We have come too high for history’
h alliteration indication sense of awe and how the poet feels it is a profound moment; also exaggerated how she thinks, that even though many planes fly everyday, it’s still incredible
‘Mackerel wigs dispense the justice of air./ At this height nothing lives’
mackerel wig is the personified sun; sibilance supports the personification and emphasises the power of the sun and nature; metaphor for society, as the more people experience these things, the colder society gets.
‘Tell us when we get to water’
businessman talking/interrupting; very dismissive and condescending and not interested in looking out the window because they’ve seen it so many times.
