One Flesh

Question 1

Jennings context.

Answer 1

• English.
• Known for lyrical poetry ie. the exploration of emotions.
• Deeply Roman Catholic.
• Part of movement in 1950’s that promoted simple poetry/ opposed modernism.

Question 2

Signifiance of the title.

Answer 2

• Suggestion of Christian notion of unity in marriage.
• Genesis: women made from RIB of adam.
• “Flesh”: too clinical for romantic poem, poem unconventional for genre?
• “One”: juxtaposes their separation in the poem.

Question 3

Give phrases Jennings uses to show the couples separation and lack of passion.

Answer 3

• “each in a separate bed.”
• “cool.”
• “grown cold.”
• Old age/ time causes passion to dissipate.

Question 4

Signifiance of description of what each person is doing in fisrt stanza.

Answer 4

• “he with a book.” / “looking at shadows.”
• Symbols of not living in the present, doesn’t enjoy her company?
• “She like a girl dreaming of childhood.”
• Shows their passion when they were younger/ woman wants to revert back to this time.
• “She”/ “he” third person; showing their separation.

Question 5

Signifiance of the heroic couplet at the end of stanza 1.

Answer 5

• “unread”/ “overhead.”
• Symbol of binding marrriage.

Question 6

How is the couples “former passion” described?

Answer 6

• “tossed up like a flotsman.”
• “tossed”: they let go of it so easily/ lack of preservation.
• Flotsman= debris/ waste found in middle of sea, their former passion CAN’T even be identified.
• Sibilance emphasis on the silence in house.

Question 7

Religious imagery

Answer 7

• “chastisty faces them” personification.
• “like a confession” when they touch.
• Lack of sexual attraction now they have grown old.

Question 8

Paradox at beginning of stanza 3.

Answer 8

• “strangely apart, yet strangely close together.”
• Been together for so many years at home but their love and connection has faded.

Question 9

How is silence and time described by Jennings?

Answer 9

• “Silence… like a thread to hold.”
• Silence remains constant, never broken. Symbol of their weak connection.
• “time itsefl’s a feather.” Time so delicate/ running out like a floating feather drops on floor/ life is moving very slowly.
• ALTERNATIVELY: they are frail “feather”, “thread” –> weak imagery but their relationship isn’t.

Question 10

Signifiance of rhyme scheme in poem.

Answer 10

• Some lines rhyme, others don’t.
• Their love still exists but not as strong as it used to be in their youth.

Question 11

Signifiance of lasting rhetorical question Jennings employs.

Answer 11

• Open to interpretation whether their love has actually died out.
• Perhaps, their love hasn’t died out, has just changed!/ naievty of the speaker?
• They don’t need to show their love through physical connection, their love is a lot deeper/ transcends touch
• Juxtaposition between their former passion and their died out love “fire”, “ cold” .

Question 12

What kind of love may the couple have rather than saying their love has completely faded?

Answer 12

• Domesticated love.
• “book”/ “light.”
• Perhaps the narrator is young (the child) and doesn’t understand their love because she has never seen older people in love.

Question 13

Significance of how speaker refers to her parents.

Answer 13

• “father and mother.”
• Separate entities - emphasising their separation even more.

Question 14

What could Jennings’ message be?

Answer 14

• Marriage is irrelevant, people end up alone/ celibate either way?
• Critique of idea that Catholics are unable to get divorced.
• Different types of love, not all will appear in the “fairy-tale” manner.

Question 15

When was “One Flesh” published?

Answer 15

• 1966.