Genetics - Sinead Morrissey Flashcards
What is Genetics about? (4 points)
Explores the poet’s relationship with her parents and their relationship with each other
Clever interplay of words suggests the complex genetic inheritance that goes into making a child - physical characteristics are passed on, but never a carbon copy of what went before
The parents seem no longer to be together but they remain present in the genetic inheritance manifested in the narrator’s body
At the end, a new relationship is introduced, in the pronoun ‘you’ - the next generation represented in the form of a new genetic mix
What is the structure of Genetics? (4 points)
It is a villanelle:
+ Two repeated, rhyming lines which alternate at the end line of each three-lined stanza
+ Each pair of rhymes differs slightly in each stanza
+ Circular form - coming back in the final couplet to where it began
Suits the themes of separation, togetherness and marriage
What is the language and imagery of Genetics? (3 points)
The voice is that of the poet using the first person singular pronoun ‘I’. The tone is gentle and thoughtful
The key rhyme is ‘palms’/‘hands’ — a consonant and not a full rhyme
Also, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are consonant and echo each other - both sets close in meaning and sound