From the Antique

Question 1

“I wish and I wish I were a man:
Or, better than any being, were not:”

Answer 1

From the Antique:
- Explicit tone of self annihilation
- Internal repetition, depicts a child making a wish that will never materialise
- Claims that to not exist would be an improvement to her life
- Hyperbolic

Question 2

“Not a body and not a soul:
Not so much as a grain of dust”

Answer 2

From the Antique:
- Anaphora
- Depiction of “body” and “soul” reflect that she feels absent in the current world, reference to the states of existence that follow death
- Allusion to the Bible “Ashes to ashes”, implicit desire for death in reference to the funeral service

Question 3

“Still the world would wag on the same,
Still the seasons go and come:”

Answer 3

From the Antique:
- Alliterative, reflects a weary/dull tone
- Nature is nonchalant, unbothered by the absence of her existence
- reference to the sublime beauty of nature and humanities insignificance
- Passing of seasons references the title “Antique”, in the passing of time nature would wilt and regenerate and she would not have made an impact

Question 4

“None would miss me in all the world,
How much less would care or weep:”

Answer 4

From the Antique:
- Hyperbolic “all the world”, supports consistent tone of despair
- It is impossible for anyone to care less about something that never existed

Question 5

“I should be nothing, while all the rest
Would wake and weary and fall asleep.”

Answer 5

From the Antique:
- Speaker explicitly conditioned by society to feel as if she were nothing
- “sleep” a symbol of society’s ignorance to the situation
- Inclusive “all the rest” could be an address to the rest of women in society
- syndetic list on the last line closes the poem of the same tone of despair it began with “weary”, the stance of the speaker has shifted slightly
- Clear sympathy created for women who live in solitude and suffering