Paula Meehan

Question 1

‘Buying Winkles’
childlike perspective and fears of the child but in reality shows poverty

Answer 1

‘I’d dash from the ghosts on the stairs where the bulb had blown’

Question 2

‘Buying Winkles’
reinforces sense of childlike wonder and describes the winkles

Answer 2

‘the winkles would be wet and glisten blue like little night skies themselves’

Question 3

‘Buying Winkles’
simile- prize she has won for completing her mission and image of light

Answer 3

‘I’d bear the newspaper twists bulging fat with winkles proudly home, like torches’

Question 4

‘The Pattern’
keepsakes from mother include memory of a slap and repeated confrontations

Answer 4

‘Little has come down to me of hers, […] the sting of her hands across my face in one of our wars’

Question 5

‘The Pattern’
metaphor using the solar system to highlight the importance of the mother in their lives

Answer 5

‘We’d grow solemn as planets in an intricate orbit about her’

Question 6

‘The Pattern’
reeling in her daughter’s ambition

Answer 6

‘If I swam like a kite too high […] she’d reel me firmly home’

Question 7

‘Hearth Lesson’
memory of parents fighting brought back immediately

Answer 7

‘Either phrase will bring it back - money to burn, burning a hole in your pocket’

Question 8

‘Hearth Lesson’
metaphor about sitting in the middle of their fights

Answer 8

‘I’m net, umpire and court; most balls are lobbed over my head’

Question 9

‘Hearth Lesson’
root of their problems and impact of poverty

Answer 9

‘it was money […] at the root of bitter words’

Question 10

‘The Exact Moment I Became a Poet’
teacher’s prejudice shown in direct speech, last resort for the girls

Answer 10

‘Attend to your books girls, or […] you’ll end up in the sewing factory’

Question 11

‘The Exact Moment I Became a Poet’
simile that dehumanizes women

Answer 11

‘But: I saw them; mothers, aunts and neighbours trussed like chickens on a conveyor belt’

Question 12

‘The Exact Moment I Became a Poet’
power of words

Answer 12

‘Words could pluck you, […] your lovely shiny feathers all gone’

Question 13

‘Prayer for the Children of Longing’
anaphora, repetition of heart shows loving support

Answer 13

‘Here at the heart of winter
Here at the hert of the city’

Question 14

‘Prayer for the Children of Longing’
streets are personified

Answer 14

‘The streets […]
That promised them everything
That delivered nothing’

Question 15

‘Prayer for the Children of Longing’
prayerful tone that gives the children dignity

Answer 15

‘Let their names be the holiest prayers’