IRIR Flashcards
how does Larkin use structure and rhyme in I Remember, I Remember to illustrate his messages?
- purposefully concealed/covert rhyme scheme
- the 9-line rhyme scheme is hidden amongst the 5-line stanzas and the tail line, separated by structure, is connected by rhyme
- rhyming pattern constantly shifts (rhymes occur at different places within the stanzaic structure) creating a nagging familiarity and then disorientation, reflecting the speaker’s experience
analyse the quote ‘by a different line’ from i remember, i remember
- polysemic
- literal trainline
- figurative reference to the passage of time and aging; speaker’s new perspective and experience of his home-towN
analyse the quote ‘cold new year’ from i remember, i remember
- pathetic fallacy
- Coventry is uninviting, unwelcoming, and bleak; opposite to stereotypical connotations of warmth, happiness, and a haze of nostalgia tied to childhood
- alternatively, it is bracing and fresh, representative of the speaker’s new persepctive and the truth of Coventry
- ‘new year’ underscores the temporal distance between the speaker and his cbildhood
analyse the quote ‘‘Why, Coventry!’ I exclaimed. ‘I was born here.’’ from i remember, i remember
- exclamative bursts out before its natural place at the end of the sentence; reflects a flush of enthusiasm
- bathos; immediate surprise and excitement of ‘why!’ contrasts boring statement of ‘I was born here.’, undercutting any genuine attachment and reduces the relationship to simple practicality
- use of speech suggests it is jusst an amusing anecote; unimportant
analyse the quote ‘Squinnied for a sign / that this was still the town that had been ‘mine’’ from i remember, i remember
- ‘squinnied’ is a dialectic, suggesting a connection to place; suggests his childhood will always be a part of him, perhaps representative of a deep-rooted sense of belonging - or is this a mockery?
- alternatively, it could be the speaker’s desire to find a sense of connection with his childhood; this is futile in light of his genuine emotions
- squinting suggests he can no longer properly make sense of his hometown; he is an outsider
- inverted commas used to mock the idea that a person can have a deep connection with a place, and feel it is theirs
analyse the quote ‘I wasn’t even clear’ from i remember, i remember
adverb suggests detachment to coventry and a lackc of knowledge
analyse the quote ‘cycle-crates […] family hols?’ from i remember, i remember
- speaker attempts to summon an appropriate enthusiasm and nostalgia
- colloquial rhetorical question is almost mocking
analyse the quote ‘a whistle went: / things moved’ from i remember, i remember
- ‘whistle’ is a signal for him to move on; the transformation of adulthood and representative of desire to leave Coventry as a young person
- ‘things moved’ polysemic: physicala and temporal distance - temporal metaphor underscores the passage of time
analyse the quote ‘“where you ‘have your roots?’” No, only where my childhood was unspent’ from i remember, i remember
- idiom emphasises speaker’s lack of connection to Coventry; implies stereotypically we experience a sense of identity tied to place
- use of speech; casual conversation triggers speaker to reflect on childhood
- blunt, harsh response is indicative of lack of connection
- Hardy-esque negation contrasts stereotypical views of childhood; speaker is resentful and feels he has been deceived by society to expect more - ‘unspent’ suggests it has been unused/unexplored; speaker didn’t have formative experiences
analyse the quote ‘i did not invent / blinding theologies’ from i remember, i remember
- complex language signifies a refusal to engage in childhood memory
- repeated negators show all the things his childhood was not, all the things missing from it
analyse the quote ‘splendid family […] the boys all biceps and the girls all chest’ from i remember, i remember
- Larkin mockes the contrived perfection, whilst being jealous of it
- americanised imagery is defined by lack of depth; larkin mocks these stereotypical views as he doesn’t feel a sense of connection to his family
- also presents speaker as an outsider; as well as mocking, there is an underlying notion that the speaker would have liked to experience this
analyse the quote ‘‘all became a burning mist’’ from i remember, i remember
- cliched and stereotupical; supposedly universal and formative
- speaker is almost angry at himself for having entertained romantic illusions of his past
analyse the quote ‘‘nothing, like something, happens anywhere’ from i remember, i remember
- suggests his childhood was irrelevant and unremarkable; nothing exciting OR traumatic
- speaker suggests having an unremarkable childhood is a universal experience and nostalgia is idealised and romanticised
