Poem @ 39 Flashcards
What does the Enjambment throughout the poem show?
Shows the chain of thoughts that the poet is struggling to express
deposit slips, checks, savings account, pits of paper
The semantic field of finance connotes how money, at the time, was a burden
How is this poem written?
Written in free verse and in a dramatic monologue which further depicts the train of thought as well as the 6 stanzas that are of unequal length
Themes of?
Childhood, Loss, Regret, Nostalgia, Memories, Familial Love
Where are the only rhyming words in Poem @ 39? What does this suggest?
“Look” and “Cook”. These are the only rhymes in the poem which may connote how the poem sounds more conversational; the one where the writer might be recounting a memory to a friend.
The two words represent the similarity between her and her father
What does the use of personal pronouns throughout the poem suggest?
Evokes this poem is intimate as the writer shows she is vulnerable as she talks about a loving memory of her father
What does the title tell you about the writer?
The reader learns that the narrator is an adult and this poem is about a memory that is recounted with a nostalgic tone
to escape the life he knew
This implies the hardships that her father had to go through and how caring he still was
before the end
Euphemism highlights difficulties in coming to terms with his death
my father!
The exclamation mark creates the emphasis + Volta –> Shift of tone from a regretful tone to a more celebratory tone
he cooked like a person dancing in a yoga meditation
Oxymoronic simile –> indicates how beautiful it was to watch him and how she felt energetic but focused
seasoning none of my life
Metaphor –> implies how she’s escaped the “life he knew” and suggests how in the present moment, her life is full of flavour: adventure, diversity and unpredictability
cooking, writing, chopping wood
The asyndetic listing emphasises her independence and how she’s a woman of many talents as well as the fact that she challenges gender stereotypes by taking up jobs commonly seen only men doing
Must have grieved him before the end.
Implies there was some conflict between her relationship with her father + Irony –> He encourages her to be honest yet it was that honesty which caused him to hurt
How many stanzas are there? Are they controlled?
6 unequal stanzas which reflect her train of thought
