Have You Forgotten?

Question 1

HYF?: Structure & Form

Answer 1

14 line = sonnet - talks of unrequited love
ABBA enclosed rhyme scheme which shifts to CDECDE after the volta - sestet
change/volta represents his change in attitude/breakdown of the relationship & the ensuing divisions of the relationship.

Question 2

HYF?: Use of rhetoricals:
1. ‘H y i f a/A h t i i I c f?’

Answer 2

1. ‘Have you indeed forgotten all?/Ah how then is it I cannot forget?’: cont. use of rhetoricals subverts prototypical fem. as she is inquisitive.
   Last line = bitter, superior tone = her reputation is tarnished whilst he is free to withdraw a marriage offer, crit. of soc. norms - Lapsarian culture = womens rep is fragile

Question 3

HYF?: church bells - marriage question
1. ‘d c o c b’
2. ‘s a s t’

Answer 3

1. ‘distant call of church bells’: evocative of complete spatial separation, the vast expanse of distance perhaps representing the unachievable nature of this marital union as it is physically ‘out of reach’. Despite being distant, teh fact that teh bells are still audible reflects the looming nature of marriage as a social expectation - all of us are expected to achieve a marital relationship in time.
2. ‘sounded a second time’: the persistent nature of these bells reflects teh incessant nature of society’s constant hounding of women to select a marital partner. Perhaps this second chime not only forewarns of the sense of impending doom that is closely associated with this symbolic marriage proposal but it acts as a ‘knell’, indicating this speaker’s growing feelings of doubt & fear of marriage = reproachful as fearful taht marriage signals teh death of her freedom & autonomy as she will assume teh relational label of ‘wife’, becoming male property.
   2nd chime - reminder that she is ‘incomplete’ & unfulfilled as a Victorian woman?
   relentless nature of societal expectations.

Question 4

HYF: persistent use of rhetorical questions/interrogation of the partner.
1. ‘HYF…?’
2. ‘h t i i I c f?’

Answer 4

1. Repetition of ‘Have you forgotten…?’ - constantly followed by examples of the ‘devotion’ evident in this relationship to enforce the speaker’s own utter grieving of this monumental loss as they begin to question how much their partner valued teh relationship/whether they were as of as much value to their partner as their partner was to them.
2. ‘how then is it I cannot forget?’: this self-reflexive is loaded with bitter emotions as teh speaker questions why only she should experience the grief of an ended relationship & mourning the loss of this union. - perhaps embittered by the fact that this relationship may have been seen as a marriage prospect & so the loss of such is HUGELY damaging to the speaker bc her rep. as a reputable woman worthy of marriage is at stake/potentially tarnished. AO3: Lapsarian culture. Appears quite melancholy as teh speaker questions why they cannot seem to achieve the same emotional resolve that their ex-lover achieves post-breakup.

Question 5

HYF?: Nature imagery & light & dark motif
1. ‘W w h u t a s t’
2. ‘..y p b l a d’

Answer 5

1. ‘Warm winds hummed us to a sleepy tune’: alliterative ‘w’ creates a peaceful, lulling image that evokes a romanticised setting => mimicry of the fact that this is a romanticised recounting of events through memory. Personification of teh winds as ‘humming’ suggestive of a harmonious, joy-inspiring act, perhaps noting that the beauty and wonder of the natural environment assisted the fostering of this romantic relationship, yet ‘sleepy tune’ and its placid quality suggests that this relationship or fleeting memory is in an insecure state as one can ‘awake’ from the ‘sleep’ of the relationship - perhaps out of a realisation that this relationship is rather stagnant.
2. ‘you praised both light and darkness’: use of binary opposites to perhaps foreshadow & predict the incompatibility of the speaker & their lover.