Genetics Flashcards
Title
- very biological static defenition void of any physical connection
- shows how she is both intrinsically linked to her family whilst also being a unique offspring who is not defined by their divorce
Villanella structure
- 5x3 stanza and a final stanza in quatrain form. Alternating rhymes each stanza/ repeat of final line alternating at the end of each stanza.
-this villanelle is atypical and uses half rhymes as well as a not fully repeating final line, not in iambic pentameter either.
-This may imply separation and not a complete tie to the reassuring, reminiscent tone of a typical poem of this structure. May hence show how her life differs from a robust nuclear family or perhaps how she is free and undefined by her parents
Cyclical structure
- implies an external biological connection between a loving relationship and their child wether the future parents want it or not
- may also allude to a wedding ring in referenace to the eternal nature of marriage.
- could father suggest the unbroken human process of marriage and children despite a fractured childhood, thus the speaker looks to continue this cycle in her own life
Rhyme scheme
- typical to the vilanelle structure in the ABA rhyme scheme
- however the usage of half rhumes implies a break away from a nuclear family and a reminiscent tone that vilanelles usually imply
- the rhyme scheme ABA, ABA with the first and last of each stanza rhyming may create an idea of a link over a gap and thus a joining factor (the speaker) despite the gap of her parents relationship
- seems to be forced in the repetition of words in order to create some half rhymes- this may show us how the narrator is thought. Biological link not truly at one with her parents and fondly reminiscing on their rapports.
Stanza length
- 5x tercets and 1x quatrain
- the heavy tercets could be symbolic of a father child mother structure and how she longed to/was enclosed in a nuclear familial structure
- the final quatrain shows a break from the nuclear family and a shift towards her own agency in her step towards procreation. She is creating with someone else her own family unit.
‘My fathers in my fingers, but my mothers in my palms’
- medial caesura shows the physical separation of the parents as they have been split in half.
- this is parallelism, the sentence is reflected on either half. This shows the combined inheritance of the speaker and how genetically she is linked to her parents.
- despite this they are placed at either end of a separated sentence showing their physical separation
- the combination of these traits shows how genetic inheritance undermines physical breakups.
- moreover, the possessive pronouns MY which are repeated throughout the poem, often followed by her parents, represents how the owner has her own autonomy over the characteristics she inherits from her parents.
- inheritance, family, relationships
‘I know my parents made me by my hands’
- links to genetic title, she understands that she has her pwn identity but also expresses awe at how she is formed by the human bond between her parents
- LEXICAL CLUSTER of the word hands which symbolises the bond between humans even after physical separation
- inheritance
Acceptence of divorce in ‘may sleep with other lovers’ and ‘they touch where fingers link to palms’
‘At least I know their marriage by my hands’
- this reveals to us that they have moved on and likely remarried, the word ‘sleep’ suggests that her parents are solidifiying their relationship with new people by procreating and she has been alienated.
- HOWEVER, due to her reliance on genetics she knows she is a symbol of love at one fragmetned time. The lexis ‘may’ suggests an acceptance of their parents new future and shows an understanding that time grows new step parents and futures
- similarly, she knows the word ‘touch’ is liminal as only her genetics tough one another and she understands that she has her own identity and genetic makeup outside of a typified family unit
- lexis ‘least’ knows gratitude and acceptance over what she has and the divorce of her parents
Who quarry for their image
- shows an awkwardness between these force ‘friends’ in the parents or ‘friends’ in the loved ones
- looking for a relationship and a love that is no longer found
- sounds similar to ‘quarrel’ which may underscore the frustration felt over a fragmented relationship
- despite this the idea that ‘their image’ lives on shows how love remains in their offspring even after a divorce, but the lexis ‘their’ juxtaposes this and expresses how she is neither of her parents identical and has forged her own identity.
- no child is a carbon copy of that of their parents
I shape a chapel where a steeple stands
- images of priest and steeple are religiously linked to unity and express a belief that divorce is a sin due to the catholic sacrement of marriage, yet she ignores this idea in implying through her acceptance that love and marriage may be fleeting
- alludes to a nursery rhyme and hand game which ties into the lexical cluster of hands
- this childlike actions reveal sympathy for the speaker as she may have been impacted at a young age. Maybe this also refers to how marriage ITSELF is a naive concept in hoping you’d stay together
‘Ill bequeath by fingers..’
-final stanza, quatrain, completely separates the speaker from the beginning of the poem where she sees reminsense of her parents in all parts of her identity.
- here she underscores that she has cyclically followed the rites of passage of life and herself wishes to procreate and have a supportive family for them to grow up
- yet also here she accepted that her and her partner are NOT genetically the same and their differences may lead them to not work out like her parents, but unlike some allusions to the sin of divorce she feels that a childhood marred by divorce and the fear of failure should not impact them from taking the risk of commitment to one another.
- repetition of lexis bequeath implies a complete new identity and a separation from her parents
THEME: family
-family is always united in its offspring, the lexical field of hands is representative medium of genetic traits eg in fingerprints. Physical and emotional separation cannot erase the reminense of a family bond and a past love
- family is a rite of passage and a legacy that is continued cyclically by the speaker in spite of her stunted familial structure. Family can be passed down through physical traits and emotional ties
- family can be separated and stunted
- she is in many ways scared of passing down the physiological traits of her parents
THEME; identity
- lexical field of hands show that every child is a representative of both of their parents and they are merged by the unity of two people and throughout her body they are a physical marker of who she is
- thoguh she inherits physical traits marked by her parents she also is marked physiologically by her parents due to the fact that despite their separation she is connected to them in her physical makeup. She is marked by the physical imprint of their relationship
- identity of her parents is carried through her not just statically but I how she reinacts and carries the stories of her parents.we are influenced by how we relate and intercept those who came before us
- she also shows constant acceptance that she is not completely defined by her parents and has the autonomy to move on an make her own future unmarked by that of her parents
- dual nature of idddntity as she is blended between her physical traits that are shaped by her own agency and that of those she inherited from her parents
