Good Friday

Question 1

What is ‘good Friday’ about ?

Answer 1

Refers to the holiday that commemorates Jesus’s crucifixion.
The speaker struggles to connect to it on an emotional level, unlike Christ’s followers showing sorrow.
They thus feel like an unfeeling stone rather than a devoted sheep, and appeal to God for solace + reassurance.
Explores spiritual doubt and placing greater trust in God may be the answer.

Question 2

What are the main themes in ‘Good Friday’ ?

Answer 2

Faith and feeling
Spiritual crisis and belief

Question 3

What is the rhyme scheme of ‘Good Friday’ ?

Answer 3

First 2 stanzas
ABBA CDDC, known as an enclosed rhyme.
Last 2 stanzas
EFEF, shift may hint at speaker’s own inner turmoil.

Question 4

What is the main symbol in ‘good Friday’ ?

Answer 4

The midday darkness, representing the spiritual darkness at Jesus’s death and humanity’s moral failure.

Question 5

What is the form of ‘ Good Friday ‘ ?

Answer 5

4 quatrains
Speakers addresses words to Jesus/ God through apostrophe, calling for divine help.

Question 6

What is the meter for ‘Good-Friday’ ?

Answer 6

Mostly uses iambs, creating a steady rhythm.
1st and 4th lines are shorter than the 2nd and 3rd.
Iambic tetrameter, then 2 lines of iambic pentameter, then finally iambic dimeter.

Question 7

When was ‘ good Friday’ published?

Answer 7

In her 1866 collection ‘ The Prince’s progress and other poems’