No Road Flashcards
analyse the quote ‘since we agreed to let the road between us / Fall to disuse’ from No Road
- extended metaphor of a road to represent the relationship/romantic connection, and experience of leaving a relationship
- ‘we agreed’ suggests it was mutual/amicable
- enjambment represents the separation and is emphatic of the loss of connection
- ‘disuse’ implies that it still exists and could be revived as not enough time has passed yet
analyse the quote ‘bricked […] planted […] turned all time’s eroding agents loose’ from No Road
- repetition of verbs suggests a forced loss of connection; actively trying to separate
- personification in ‘eroding agents’ emphasises time’s ability to shift our outlook; a slow but inevitable force of change - whereas the couple struggle to separate and move on, time is an undeniable force which will cause the break
analyse the quote ‘silence, and space, and strangers - our neglect / has not had much effect’ from No Road
- sibiliance suggests the separation is overwhelming; Larkin defines our experience of loss as lonely, confused, isolated, and equally overwhelming and anxiety-inducing as the separation is new and fresh
- polysyndetic list is emphatic of the physical space as words are separated
- rhyming couplet to end suggests not enough time has passed for him to move on and a connection still exists; the speaker has no authority in choosing to move on
analyse the quote ‘drift unswept […] creeps unmnown’ from No Road
- passive verbs create a slow atmosphere, suggesting the connection lingers, not yet faded by time
- negated verbs, typical of Hardy, suggest the absence of something (stasis and inertia, an inability to move on), portraying time as standing still. Suggests speaker wants time to pass so he can feel better, but it seems slow. Speaker has a lack of control over his own emotions
analyse the quote ‘so little overgrown’ from No Road
natural imagery suggests that despsite the forced separation, the timescale is still natural and not able to be dictated
analyse the quote ‘and time would be the stronger’ from No Road
personification of time assigns authority to time itself, suggestive of the transformative power of time
analyse the quote ‘drafting a world where no such road will run / from you to me’ from No Road
- ‘drafting’ is unsteady and uncertain; suggests time is in control and its passage is unstoppable; therefore, separation and loss of connection is also unstoppable - at first, they actively separate but then power and control is taken by time
- contrasting pronouns; at start ‘we’ now ‘you’ and ‘me’ - severeance/transition of pronouns is emblematic pf their relationship
analyse the quote ‘watch that world come up like a cold sun’ from No Road
- simile is paradoxical/ oxymoron suggesting their separation is wrong as a cold sun would be redundant/impossible meaning it is impossible for them to separate
- simile may suggest separation is necessary but harsh as sun symbolisies positivity - it is lifegiving - and cold feels empty and lifeless
analyse the quote ‘rewarding others, is my liberty. / Not to prevent it is my will’s fulfilment. / Willing it, my ailment.’ from No Road
- suggests speaker is made ill/consumed by his desire for her
- speaker’s tone shifts to a complex emotional state; both free and in pain
- his ‘ailment’ is that he prefers a life of solitude to the complexity and compromise of being with another
