Letters from Yorkshire Flashcards
Theme of the poem
The poem is about two lovers that live far away sending letters to each other from their different jobs
Context of the poet
The poet, Maura Dooley, worked in Yorkshire for some years but now works as a lecturer in London at Goldsmiths College, University of London
the speaker’s partner is prompted to write when the “lapwings return”
D - symbolism - their messages are like lapwings, and that like lapwings they will return to each other and be together again
Language: What device is used in the quote “is your life more real because you dig and sow.”
What does the speaker feel about her life compared with her partners
Explain why she might feel this way
Rhetorical question
Her life is worse than his and he’s more connected to the world
He has a life outside of work
Alternative interpretation: Why does the poet describe how she has a ‘heartful’ of headlines rather than a “ head full” of headlines
They love each other so they speak through the heart
Reader response: does the poem make the reader feel sympathy for the speaker being separated from her partner and why
Yes because she can’t see her lover and she is sad that she doesn’t really have a life outside her work
The poem is written in 3 line stanzas (tercets). Why has the poet chosen this structure?
It’s not couplets which emphasises that they are separated by distance
