Letter From Yorkshire - Maura Dooley Flashcards
Letter From Yorkshire
The poem brings out the message that long distance relationship and love can be kept alive despite separation as the power of words connect people emotionally who are physically apart.
General Context
- Dooley is a freelance writer and poet who worked in Yorkshire but moved to London as a lecturer.
- The poem reflects Dooley’s own move from Yorkshire to London and the fact that she misses the countryside of Yorkshire.
‘lapwings return’
L - symbolism
Lapwings return to the same place to mate. This could symbolise the couple’s relationship that she wants to return to Yorkshire to be with him.
‘it’s not romance, simply how things are.’
L - end-stopped
It emphasises that it is not a love letter but just a letter informing her about his day which implies that love can be deep even if it is not romantic.
‘he saw’ -> ‘you out there’
L - pronouns
The shift in pronoun from third person to direct address shows how receiving his letter has make her feel closer to him.
‘feeding words onto a blank screen’
L - verb
This suggests the speaker is not taking pleasure from writing as a job. She would rather be consuming words for pleasure.
L - adjective
This may also suggest a writer block or suggest the writing is impersonal as her audience is unknown, unlike the personal letter he wrote to her.
‘sends me word of that other world’
L - metaphor
Emphasises how different their lives are.
L - alliteration
Implies that their words link their different worlds.
‘pouring air and light into an envelope’
L - metaphor
His words are like air and light because they are refreshing and it is a breath of fresh air to read them and uplift the speaker.
D - it implies that she is negative about her own life.
‘same news in different houses’
L - adjectives
Emphasises how they have different lives and live in different places but are connected emotionally.
‘our souls tap out messages across the icy miles’
L - metaphor
Implies that they are spiritually and emotionally connected by their words which is further emphasised by the alliteration.
Enjambment between stanza 2 and 3
I -
1. reflects the season turning
2. reflects the separation of pronouns ‘you’ and ‘me’
Enjambment between stanza 4 and 5
Symbolises how words connect them, just like the enjambment connects the stanzas across the stanzaic break.
Written is triplets
Instead of couplets, triplets reflect the fact that the couple are not physically close but bonded by love.
Written in free verse
It gives the poem an informal honesty as the speaker begins to directly speak to him. Perhaps, she wishes he was there to talk to directly so the poem has a conversational style.
Reader Response
- reassured
- happy
- sympathy
