Genetics Flashcards
1
Q
what is the poetic form used in Genetics?
A
Villainelle
2
Q
Why is Genetics in the form of a villainelle?
A
- the two alternating lines represent the speakers parents who have separated but are together through their child (the speaker)
- a villainelle also has a circular form which comes back in the final couplet, this forms a ring which echoes the marriage of the parents.
3
Q
What is the extended metaphor used in genetics?
A
Hands
“My father’s in my fingers” “my mothers in my palms”
4
Q
“I lift them up and look at them”
A
- speaker talking about her hands
- highlights speakers fascinations and awe-struck attitude
- speaker contemplates how she is a permanent record of a long forgotten love
5
Q
“Repelled to separate lands, to separate hemispheres”
A
- ‘repelled’ suggests a forceful, irreversible divide between the parents
- ‘separation’ repetition reiterates the divorce
6
Q
“Friends who quarry for their image by the river”
A
- metaphor/natural imagery
- metaphor highlights how the parents struggle to recognise the the people they once were and the love they once shared.
7
Q
“Shape a chapel where a steeple stands”
A
- childish finger game reimagines the young innocence and untainted purity of their former love
8
Q
“My body is their marriage register”
A
- synechdoche
- speaker is a living document of the love her parents no longer share
9
Q
Why is the line “so take me with you” significant?
A
- speaker seems to be addressing her own partner
- suggests that they have a child of their own which permanently ties them together and immortalises their love.
10
Q
“Take up the skins demands”
A
- personification
- skin is an undeniable living force that has wishes beyond human comprehension
11
Q
“Chapel” “priest” “psalms”
A
- religious imagery presents speakers parents marriage and former love as holy and profound.
