On Her Blindness by Adam Thorpe Flashcards
What is the poem about?
A son struggling to deal with the fact his mother has lost her sight
STRUCTURE
How is the poem laid out? What is the effect of this?
unrhyming couplets
with surprisingly consistent line lengths
- visually breaks up the poem up
- challenging to read at a normal pace
- feels like a natural conversation or speech with frequent switching
- makes more informal tone
STRUCTURE
What does the transition at the end make even more apparent in the poem due to its consistent structure?
the ending is more emotional for the reader
the death becomes more poignant
STRUCTURE
What do the lack of full stops and end-stopped lines do?
- continues the sense of conversation
- make it seem more personal as a result
- alluding to a constant flow of memories that are being brought up
STRUCTURE
How does Thorpe get a strong reader response by including the death at the end?
he’s addressing such a universal theme as death occurs in everyone’s life
STRUCTURE
What technique is repeated across stanzas? What’s the effect of this?
enjambment
disorientating effect to mirror how the mother feels
STRUCTURE
How does the structure seem from a surface glance versus what it seems once you read it? What effect does this have?
the poem, in couplets, seems structured
once you read it and notice the enjambment it seems to be hidden as a irregular
effect: recreating the uncertainty that the mother feels
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What effect does the direct speech have on the poem?
- emphasises personal tone and nature
- idea of conversational structure
- reader adopts different tones as each character develops
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What technique is used to indicate a sense of inevitability that the mother’s condition will worsen? How does it achieve this?
‘dark humour’
bathos - anti-climax
the mother is forced to find happiness and positivity within the current situation
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What effect do vibrant imagery and descriptions have?
highlight the presence of the imagination
to show the difficulties faced by a blind person
create additional emphathy
POETIC TECHNIQUES
How is the vibrant imagery contrasted to the mother’s situation? What effect does this have?
similes such as “as blank as stone”
effect: applicable to the sparse tone
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What effect does the mother’s direct speech have specifically?
- sense of melancholy
- deeper view of his mother
- informal and comfortable around her son
- likable character
POETIC TECHNIQUES
How is repetition used? What effect does this have?
when both mother and son say “to be honest”
creates a connection
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What does the imagery describe? What does this point out to the reader?
autumn leaves - “golden”, “ablaze”, “royal”
things we can see reinforce the richness of what his mother has lost
POETIC TECHNIQUES
What is the language like in general? What tone is there?
language - plain
tone - conversational with little figurative language
