Genetics Flashcards
Structure
- Form of a villanelle - poem referring to love, loss and challenges with 19 lines broken into 5 three-line stanzas and one quatrain -> repeated refrain referring to ‘hands or palms’ - emphasises the physical and emotional links between family, creating a sense of everlasting unity despite separation.
- Enjambment - creates a conversational tone, reflecting the connection and flow within a family.
- Tight structure - contrasts with the flow of the writing, thus revealing the complexity of a familial relationship - it is bound by genetics but shaped by experiences and emotions.
Morrissey
Morrissey’s parents had been separated, though she had two children of her own, hinting that her own life experiences may have inspired the poem. Furthermore, Morrissey grew up in Belfast during ‘the Troubles,’ a period of conflict from the 1960s-1990s. The poem’s reference to ‘separate lands,’ alongside its religious imagery could be reflective of the conflict between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists in Ireland. This extends to Morrissey’s personal life as she was born to a father that had been raised in a Catholic home and an English mother, though she was raised without major religious learnings.
Context
Morrissey reflects on modern family dynamics, particularly in the context of divorce (which was increasing between 2000-2008) and, perhaps, mixed families:
- There is ambiguity within both of these points. Firstly, the line ‘may sleep with other lovers’ could draw focus to the separation of the parents, however, an alternative perspective could be connected to open polyamory, an idea which has grown significantly in the early 21st century.
- Secondly, the line ‘may have been repelled to separate lands,’ reflects on the separation of the parents, though the following reference to ‘separate hemispheres’ hints at an interracial relationship, which may have faced judgement at the time the poem was written (2005).
‘We know our parents make us by our hands’
- Biological imagery - language relating to anatomy and genetics; highlighting the idea of inheritance and how it manifests in our features.
- ‘Hands’ - symbolise creation, connection and continuity; they act as carriers of identity and familial bonds -> reinforces role as a symbol of connection.
- ‘We know’ - certainty contrasts with the emotional complexity of family relationships, emphasising how biology provides a definite link, even when emotions and circumstances are unstable
- Nature vs nurture debate - supports both biological determinism and environmental influence -> ‘make us’ refers to not only physical creation but also how parents shape identity through experience, nurture and influence
‘So take me with you, take up the skin’s demands’
- Imperative tone suggests urgency, desire, and a plea for connection - signals a shift from looking at the past to looking forward toward the future - from parents, inheritance, genetics to an intimate new love
- Reveals desire to carry forward inherited traits to future generations - expresses how this is the natural order of life ‘demands’ reveals how it is inevitable
- ‘Skin’ - powerful, physical and sensual image, emphasising the body as a marker of inheritance, identity and connection; the skin is also impermanent, subject to aging and change, reinforcing the idea that while we carry the past, we also must move forward to an inevitable future
- ‘Take up’ - responsibility or duty, there are emotional and physical needs to be met, not just biological
