genetics

Question 1

“my fathers in my fingers, but my mothers in my palms”

Answer 1

hands act as a symbol
- for her parents relationship
- for her relationship with her parents

Question 2

“they may have been repelled to separate lands / to separate hemispheres”

Answer 2

hyperbole
- parents are as far apart as they can be
- highlights the failure and breakdown of their marriage

Question 3

“with nothing left of their togetherness but friends /
who quarry for their image by a river”

Answer 3

layered metaphor
- only memories of their marriage left for the friends
- marriage has been buried in the past, lost over time

the river is a metaphor for the passage of time
image is a metaphor for memories
= struggling to remember what the marriage was once like after such a long time

Question 4

“i shape a chapel where a steeple stands”

Answer 4

symbolic, her parents had a traditional marriage
- reference to childs game

Question 5

“demure before a priest reciting psalms”

Answer 5

• emphasises the importance of religion in establishing their marriage
• traditional gender roles, traditional ideas and expectations
• idea that the marriage failed as it was TOO traditional
• critical of tradition and religion

Question 6

“take up the skins demands”

Answer 6

personification
- suggests there’s a biological need to create new life - theme of science
- science = modern CONTRASTS parents marriage

Question 7

“i’ll bequeath my fingers, if you bequeath your palms”

Answer 7

• implies that marriage is a sacrifice

Question 8

form of poem

Answer 8

a villanelle
- a traditional form of poem

Question 9

“genetics”

Answer 9

• idea of science
• referencing that as we gain knowledge of science, society has changed to be less traditional

Question 10

use of personal possessive pronouns

Answer 10

connotes the ownership the speaker has over their own body despite their characteristics belonging to their parents