Genetics by Sinead Morrissey Flashcards
Title: Genetics
Trait passed down through generations
Evolution - progression rather than regression
Adaptability
Lineage + Heritage
Clinical term
Structure
Villanelle - French form of poetry which has a very tight and unique structure.
Repeated lines - Extended Metaphor
Enjambment creates a sense of anticipation
Theme
Family
Union
marriage
Society
Stanza 1:
‘My father’s in my heritage, but my mother’s in my palms.’
‘look at them with pleasure’
‘I know my parents made me by my hands.’
Use of comma acts as a pivot between the lines creating balance
Parallelism emphasizes connection and inheritance
imagery of joy and comfort
Cyclical structure to last line
Metaphorical symbol for creation and union
Acknowledgement
Stanza 2:
‘repelled to separate lands, to separate hemispheres’
‘repelled’ - negative verb
Unpleasant separation and forceful emotional distance
Emphasis on the amount of distance geographically and emotionally
Stanza 3:
‘nothing left’
‘I know their marriage by my hands’
Negative phrase - melancholic tone
Repeated symbolism of hands
Stanza 4:
‘I shape a chapel where a steeple stands.’
‘my father’s by my fingers, my mother’s by my palms’
Metaphor of hands as sacred
Childhood memory of going to church
Repetition echoes first line
Stanza 5:
‘priest reciting psalms’
‘My body is their marriage register’
Psalms book of poems
Biblical reference - making a vow to God to remain together
Metaphor - evidence of the marriage and their love
Stanza 6:
‘skin’s demands’
‘mirroring in bodies of the future’
‘I’ll bequeath my fingers, if you bequeath your palms.’
'’We know our parents make us by our hands.’
Personification of metaphor of an adult wanting a child or poet’s emphasis on needing a mother and father figure
Metaphor for vessel - continuation of genetic cycle
Emphasis on the need of a partnership
Repetition of imagery of hands as a metaphor for union
hands joined together in marriage, ring, creation
