Loss Of Love Flashcards
1
Q
“And I was desolate and sick of an old passion”
A
- This repeated last line parallels to Gatsby and his continuing obsession over Daisy. The adjective “sick” compares the woman to a disease which he is unable to cure; he misses her so much that she is causing him physical pain. He is almost grieving this relationship.
- It is also rhythmically different. Broadly the metre in the rest of the poem is iambic with the stress on the second syllable. In this line the metre changes. The word “desolate” is dactylic, with a stressed first syllable and two unstressed following syllables. It gives emphasis mid-way rather than at the end of the line. It is the dominant image of the poem .
2
Q
“I cried for madder music and stronger wine”
A
- There is desperation in Dowson’s “cry” for the consonantly rhymed “madder music and stronger wine”: metaphors for the passion he feels for this other lover or prostitute.
- He uses a lexical field of nouns that express his desires: “music”, “wine”, and “roses”. Clearly he believes they could reach great heights.
- This is juxtaposed with the “finished feast” and the lamps expiring. There is a sense that the passion doesn’t belong to the real world; it needs artificial light and when they “expire” the reality is greyness and darkness.
- So, nothing can truly satisfy his desire or bring him happiness without Cynarae- it is a hopeless existence.
- The alliteration of “madder music” exacerbates the frustration in his voice as he tries to drown out Cynarae with the sound of music. The superlative “madder” emulates the height of his desperation and extreme desire. He is going through an addiction.
3
Q
“Incorruptible dream”
A
- Determined to accomplish his dream or die trying.
- No one can change his mind, it is not a dream any more but his deluded reality.
- ironic because she is completely corrupted by money, wealth, and is a manipulator.
4
Q
“Graven with diamonds”
A
- The word “graven” is a harsh verb, describing indenting something.
- The diamond collar shows she belongs to someone of high status.
- The phrase “graven with diamonds” is contradictory that something seemingly beautiful is being suppressed and indented.
- The verb “graven” is harsh and evokes the speaker’s feeling of defeat over his opponent. It also suggests that the woman is bound captive forever in this relationship: linking with the idea of ‘Til death do us part’ .
- The “diamonds” imply that the woman’s partner is extremely wealthy. There is a juxtaposition between the beautiful and precious “diamonds” and the dark imagery of “graven”.
- This quote forms a direct parallel to Daisy and Tom in the Great Gatsby. On the eve of their wedding, Tom gifted Daisy “a string of pearls” which are worth over $5 million in modern day money.
- She proceeds to “pull” them off her neck. The pearls symbolise how Tom effectively ‘bought’ his marriage to Daisy. Her passionate act of “pull[ing]” them off but then continuing to marry him suggests that she is a highly materialistic person.
5
Q
“If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your house across the bay”
A
- Gatsby bought the house across the bay from Daisy and Tom as a result of his obsessive need to be close to Daisy.
- This highlights the extent of his beliefs that his future with Daisy is inevitable.
- The mist could symbolise Daisy and Tom’s facade of wealth and prosperity hiding their manipulative personalities.
6
Q
“I am of them that farthest come behind”
A
- Allieteration of ‘f’ sounds link the deer to the speaker, nevertheless they are separated by the line break.
- Mirrors how he connected he is to her mentally (a compulsion) versus how she is not his.
7
Q
“Alone and palely loitering”
A
- The poem’s first and final image is of a desperate man lingering in the memory of an experience that may not have even happened.
- Ultimately, it doesn’t matter because his all-consuming sorrow is through the fault of his idealistic ideas of “La Belle Dame”.
- The verb phrase, “palely loitering” is used to present the miserable and lamentable emotions flowing through the knight’s mind as he solely waits for his loved one. The premodifier “palely” is explicitly used as a colour imagery to illustrate his dim mood due to his feelings of isolation.
8
Q
“With anguish moist and fever-dew/ And on thy cheeks a fading rose/ Fast withereth too”.
A
- Relation to water and the female- the knight’s sorrow over la belle dame has manifested into physical illness- showing how far she has corrupted his being.
- Metaphor- the rose, a symbol of love, fading implies the knight felt a love so strong it is possible to see it physically leave his body.
- She has reduced him to a weak image of the masculine, powerful “knight” he once was.
9
Q
“Though the sedge is withered from the lake, and no birds sing”
A
- Personification of the plant moving away from the water (life giving source associated with femininity), creating a melancholy and pathetic image of a dying plant.
- “No birds sing”- lack of life, knight is left bereft. Representative of the knight’s inner emotional life. Joy is gone. Spondaic (1 syllable words), definitive.
- In this personification, the concrete noun “sedge” represents the state of their relationship, the fact that it has “withered” signifies that their relationship has ended. Despite how faithfully the knight waits, his loved one will not return. The personification of the sedge can be seen as a pathetic fallacy which suggests the tragic consequences that the knight will have to face.
10
Q
“Colossal vitality of his illusion”
A
- This encompasses the magnanimity of Gatsby’s dream.
- Daisy’s inability to reciprocate the love is not blameworthy; rather it is the far-reaching dream of Gatsby that affords him disappointment.
11
Q
“Hot whips of panic”
A
- This quote reveals Tom’s fears and conservatism as well as his recklessness.
- He is happy to keep a mistress, provided she is from a lower class so he can exploit her.
- His relationship allows him to fasten his grip on society, and maintain the status quo by emasculating George Wilson.
12
Q
“Drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game”
A
- Nick introduces Tom as someone who can never live up to the glory of his youth
- His life only had purpose when he starred in a famous college football team
In the present, he is clasping onto every morsel of upper-class life and indulgence in order to convince himself he is at his peak of life, when really he drifts without a clear sense of direction (lost generation)
