Poems of the Decade Flashcards (Incomplete)
Unseen Poetry Revision
What is the name of the poetic form used in Genetics?
villanelle
What is the extended metaphor used in Genetics?
Hands. ‘My father’s in my fingers, but my mother’s in my palms.’
Why might Genetics be formed as a villanelle?
A villanelle requires two alternating lines which represent the parents, who are separate from each other but together through their child (the speaker) A villanelle is also a circular form, coming back in the final couplet to where it began. It forms a ring, echoing the imagery of marriage in the poem.
In Genetics, what is the speaker’s attitude when she describes ‘I lift them up and look at them’ (her hands)
This conveys the speaker’s fascination and awe-struck attitude as she contemplates how she is a permanent record for a long-forgotten love.
Why does the speaker in Genetics describe how her parents have been ‘repelled to separate lands, to separate hemispheres’.
Repelled suggests a forceful, irreversible divide; the repetition of ‘separate’ reiterates this divorce.
What technique is used in this line from Genetics: ‘friends who quarry for their image by the river’
Metaphor/natural imagery
Why does the speaker in Genetics describe her parents now as being ‘friends who quarry for their image by the river’
This metaphor is intended to convey how the parents struggle to recognise the people they once were and the love they once shared.
In Genetics, why does the speaker use a children’s finger game to re-enact her parents’ wedding?
To reimagine the young innocence and untainted purity of their former love.
What technique is used in this line from Genetics: ‘my body is their marriage register’
Metaphor or Synecdoche
In Genetics, why does the speaker describe how ‘my body is their marriage register’?
She sees herself as a living document of the love they once shared.
How is there a shift in the final stanza of Genetics?
The speaker moves to the second person - ‘so take me with you’ - seemingly addressing her own lover/partner.
In Genetics, what does the speaker mean when she says ‘so take me with you’
She addresses her lover/partner, suggesting they have their own child to permanently bond them together and immortalise their love.
What technique is used in this line from Genetics: So take me with you, take up the skin’s demands’
Personification. The skin is presented as an undeniable living force that has its own wishes beyond human comprehension.
In Genetics, the speaker imagines her parents’ marriage, referring to the ‘chapel’, ‘priest’ and ‘psalms’ - why?
This religious imagery presents their marriage and former love as holy and profound.
What is the basis of the extended metaphor used in the poem Material?
handkerchiefs
What technique is used in the phrase ‘hanky queen’ (Material)
oxymoron
Why does the speaker in Material call her mother ‘the hanky queen’?
This oxymoronic metaphor presents the mother as both respected and down-to-earth.
In Material, why does the poet juxtapose ‘paper tissues’ from ‘late-night garages’ with hankies being ‘things of cloth’ for ‘waving out of trains’
The speaker contrasts the temporary and generic modern world with a more romantic, meaningful past.
What technique is used here: - ‘spittled and scrubbed against my face’ (Material)
sibilance
In Material, why does the speaker refer to the mother’s actions (‘spittled and scrubbed against my face’) through sibilant verbs?
To present her as embodying a form of practical, hands-on love.
What technique is used here in the poem Material? ‘And sometime more than one fell out // as if she had a farm up there // where dried up hankies fell in love // and mated, raising little squares.’
Simile
In Material, why does the speaker humorously imagine the mother having a ‘farm’ up her sleeve ‘where dried-up hankies fell in love
Through this image, the speaker presents the mother as a nurturing, loving figure.
In Material, when referring to the past, the speaker describes ‘greengrocer George with his dodgy foot’ and ‘Mrs White, with painted talons’. Why?
She presents the past as defined by a sense of community and friendliness. This is later contrasted with the generic, impersonal modern world.
In Material, how is the regular structure and form temporarily broken?
When reminiscing about the past (stanzas 5 & 6) the regular rhyme scheme disappears as does the octave stanza structure.
In Material, why is the regular structure and form broken as the speaker reminisces about the past?
This is perhaps intended to show how the speaker becomes lost in the evocative memories of this bygone era.
After reminiscing about the past, what does the speaker in Material realise when she says ‘nostalgia only makes me old’?
She realises that, although looking back is seductive, she has to find her own place in the modern world.
How is there a shift in the final stanza of the poem Material?
We see a shift in voice, as the speaker imagines her mother’s words: this is your material/To do with, daughter, what you will.
Why might we suggest that the poem Material uses a regular rhyme scheme?
The regular rhyme scheme of the poem is suggestive of the more formal era the poet is evoking. It also perhaps suggests the constraints which the past still places on the narrator.
Which other poem does the title of On Her Blindness refer to?
On His Blindness by John Milton.
Why does Adam Thorpe call his poem On Her Blindness?
To make reference to the John Milton poem On His Blindness. In his poem, Milton suggests that going blind has brought him closer to God, a stoic idea that Thorpe wholeheartedly rejects.
What technique is used in the opening line of On Her Blindness? ‘My mother could not bear being blind’
Plosive alliteration
Why is plosive alliteration used in the opening line of On Her Blindness: ‘My mother could not bear being blind’
The plosives helps to immediately set a blunt tone, conveying the brutal reality of the mother’s suffering.
In On Her Blindness, why does the poet use the formal pronoun ‘one’: ‘One shouldn’t say it // One should hide the fact that catastrophic // handicaps are hell.’
The formal pronoun mocks the stoic attitude that people are expected to take when facing life-changing illness.
What technique is used here? ‘one tend to hear // publicly from those who bear it // like a Roman (On Her Blindness)
simile
In On Her Blindness, why does the speaker describe how ‘one tends to hear, publicly from those who bear it // like a Roman?
To suggest that we depict facing illness as a battle of courage and strength, which is a sentiment the poet rejects.
In On Her Blindness, why does the speaker describe himself as ‘the locked-in son’?
This metaphorical image suggests the son feels trapped by not being able to do anything to help his mother, or not being able to express how he truly feels
Why is the phrase ‘to be honest’ repeated (in stanza one and stanza six) of On Her Blindness?
To reiterate that the poem is an honest and frank portrayal of what it is to experience serious illness.
In On Her Blindness, why does the speaker describe his attempts at reassuring his mother as ‘the usual sop’?
To convey how he sees his words as generic and empty.
In On Her Blindness, why does the speaker describe his mother’s deterioration as ‘the long/slow slide’, breaking this phrase across two stanzas?
To convey the extended and drawn-out suffering that the mother has to endure.
Why does the speaker in On Her Blindness suggest that the mother’s disappearing sight ended in ‘a vision as black as stone’
The simile implies that her loss of sight has almost hardened her and taken away an element of her humanity.
In On Her Blindness, why does the poet use brackets - e.g., (try it in a pitch black room)
To present a more personal, relatable account of the mother’s suffering, as opposed to the generic public stories of those who ‘bear it like a Roman’
Why might the poet of On Her Blindness have chosen to form his poem using couplets?
The couplets are perhaps intended to be a representation of the speaker and his mother, as their relationship is, in part, the focus of the poem.
In On Her Blindness, why is the couplet structure broken at the end?
The single line stanza that ends the poem is perhaps intended to be a visual representation of the mother’s passing, as the speaker is left alone to believe ‘she was watching, somewhere, in the end’.
In Please Hold, what is conveyed about technology through the opening lines: ‘This is the future�and it’s the same as the present’.
Contradictory, confusing opening line sentence reflects the bewildering nature of modern technology
In Please Hold, why are the words ‘wonderful’ and ‘great’ repeated?
To convey how technology has distorted the meaning of language, e.g. the way the speaker supposedly has a ‘wonderful telephone number’
What is the effect of the polysyndeton used in Please Hold: ‘Please say Yes or No. // Or you can say Repeat or Menu. // You can say Yes, No, Repeat or Menu, // Or you can say Agent if you’d like to talk’
The repeated use of ‘or’ conveys the illusion of choice - the truth is that the speaker is trapped in an endless cycle.
In Please, Hold, what is significant about the speaker’s wife repeating This is the future… and it’s the same as the present’
This suggests that the wife has become corrupted into a form of unthinking robot herself.
In Please Hold, the speaker begins by ‘talking to a robot’; however, later in the poem he says ‘I shout’, then towards the end describes ‘I scream Agent’. Why?
We see the speaker’s escalating frustration and erratic behaviour, which contrasts with the robot’s insincere politeness
In Please Hold, what is the significance of the robot being repeatedly referred to via the define article ‘THE robot’
This increases its importance, reiterating the power it has over the speaker.
What is ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ (Please Hold)
A piece of music by Mozart that translates as ‘a little night music’
In Please Hold, what is the significance of one of Mozart’s most famous compositions becoming a piece of generic ‘on hold’ music?
it conveys how great human achievements have been reduced to something meaningless and irritating.
What vision of the future is presented towards the end of Please Hold: ‘for all your accomplishments // the only way you can now meet your needs // is by lotting’.
A dark, dystopian future where the grip of modern technology can only challenged through some form of anarchy.
What is significant about the ending of Please Hold? ‘Please hold. Please grow old. Please grow cold. // Please do what you’re told. Grow old. Grow cold. // This is the future. Please hold.
The full rhymes that end the poem convey the tight structure of modern technology; the speaker suggests that this is a future that can never be escaped.
Why does Feaver use the definite article for the title of The Gun?
Use of the definite article (‘The’) presents the power and significance of the gun.
Why is an end stop used to conclude the first stanza of The Gun: ‘Bringing a gun into a house // changes it.’
The end stop suggests a definite change of some form, although the nature of the change at this point in the poem is unclear.
In The Gun, what technique is used here: ‘the long metal barrel // casting a grey shadow // on the green-checked cloth.’
Colour imagery
What is the intended effect of the colour imagery used in The Gun: ‘the long metal barrel // casting a grey shadow // on the green-checked cloth.’
The green-checked cloth represents the natural domestic setting, whereas the grey shadow conveys the looming spectre of death.
In The Gun, why is enjambment used here: ‘the grainy polished wood stick // jutting over the edge’
The way that the gun is described across the two lines could symbolise an initial boundary being crossed; this is reiterated by the phrase, ‘jutting over the edge’
What technique is used in The Gun here: ‘perforating tins // dangling on orange string // from trees in the gaden. // Then a rabbit shot // clean through the head.’
Juxtaposition. The poet contrasts a child-like innocent image of play shooting with a clinical act of violence.
In The Gun, why does the speaker describe ‘your eyes gleam // like when sex was fresh.’
This simile conveys how the speaker gains a form of erotic, sexual thrill from the power of the gun.
What is the significance of this part of The Gun: ‘I join in the cooking: jointing // and slicing, stirring and tasting
Listing of present tense verbs suggests a sense of enjoyment and sensual pleasure, reiterated by the sibilant sounds.
How is the gun presented through the poet’s use of metaphor - ‘the King of Death’?
The gun is presented as a powerful, admirable, deeply respected force.
How is there a shift in perspective in the final stanza of The Gun?
Shifts to the first person - ‘I’, the narrator finally becomes involved in the action as the gun seduces them.
What might the final image - ‘stalking/out of winter woods/his black mouth/spouting golden crocuses’ be intended to represent?
Gun is personified as a hunter ‘stalking’, but also compared to a flower. The image is one that romanticises the gun whilst also making clear its deadly impact (crocuses = poisonous)
The poem History is set in the immediate aftermath of which world-changing event?
The terrorist attacks of 9/11
What is significant about the poem History being set in the immediate aftermath of 9/11?
In the poem the speaker tries to find meaning and contentment in a suddenly changed world.
Why does the poem History begin (and later repeat) ‘Today….’?
This conveys the speaker’s desire to root himself in the specific moment, rather than worrying about an uncertain future.
What is the significance about the irregular line and stanza length in History?
The lack of structure represents the chaos and uncertainty the speaker feels in the aftermath of 9/11.
In History, why does the speaker twice refer to his young son Lucas?
The young child is intended to be an image of purity and innocence that contrasts the ‘muffled dread’ and adult anxiety that the speaker feels.
What is the significance of the line, ‘I knelt down in the sand with Lucas’?
This is intended to be an innocent, almost holy, image as the speaker explores the beauty of the natural world with his son.
In History, why are there some stanzas that are more regular in terms of line and stanza length??
These represent moments of clarity where the speaker understands what it means to be human - e.g., ‘At times I think what makes us who we are…’
IN History, why does the poet use listing - ‘Sometimes I am dizzy with the fear of losing everything - the sea, the sky, all living creatures, forests…’
The listing is perhaps used to convey how the speaker feels overwhelmed and untethered at the prospect of a rapidly changing world.
In History, why does the speaker use colour imagery - such as referring to the ‘goldfish’ and the ‘transitive gold’ of the carp?
This represents the beauty and preciousness of nature. The speaker looks to the natural world to find meaning and permanence at a time of unpredictable change.
What is the significance of the title History?
It relates both to the historic event of 9/11 but also the personal history of the speaker, who considers what it means to shape a life, and what we he will leave behind via his son Lucas.
What is the significance of the title ‘From The Journal of a Disappointed Man’?
The journal presents the speaker as a man of words - articulate and educated. He is perhaps ‘disappointed’ as he sees his own masculine image as inferior to the more stereotypical workmen of the poem.
Why does ‘Journal…’ begin ‘I discovered…’
It presents the workmen as almost a different species -a group far removed from the speaker’s normal world
In ‘Journal…’, why is plosive alliteration (‘driving a new pile into the pier’) used to describe the actions of the workmen?
The harsh plosive sounds are perhaps intended to convey the energy and action that defines the workmen
Which adjective is repeatedly used to describe the workmen in ‘Journal…’?
Massive
Why is the adjective ‘massive’ repeated in the poem ‘Journal…’ to describe the men?
It presents the vastness and imposing nature of the men
Why do the workmen in ‘Journal…’ described as speaking in monosyllables?
It presents them defined by action, unlike the speaker who is characterised by words and thought.
Why does the speaker in ‘Journal…’ compare the men to being ‘Monsters’
The metaphor presents the workmen as being almost from a different world that is far removed from modern society.
Why does the speaker of ‘Journal…’ refer to the men’s work as ‘obscure’ and being like a ‘secret problem’?
This is intended to convey how the men, their work, and the values they represent is far removed from the narrator’s life.
In ‘Journal…’, why is the foreman described as being ‘like a mystic’?
A mystic is a person that seeks a profound, holy truth. This presents the foreman as being a mysterious, almost God-like figure.
In ‘Journal…’, why is the foreman described as having a ‘heavy kind of majesty’?
This presents the foreman as a noble figure bearing a difficult burden with a quiet sense of dignity.
Why does The Deliverer begin ‘The sister here is telling my mother’
The initial ambiguous relationship between mother and daughter reflects the poem’s broader exploration of what it means to be a mother or a daughter.
In The Deliverer, what is the effect of the listing ‘crippled or dark or girls
The blunt listing conveys how the children are reduced to labels. Note being a ‘girl’ is seen as a form of disability or otherness.
What is the effect of the verbs ‘covered’/’stuffed/’abandoned’ that are used to describe the treatment of the female babies in The Deliverer?
The verbs convey how female children are treated brutally and inhumanely
In The Deliverer, what technique is used here, and why: ‘ One of them was dug up by a dog.’
plosive alliteration - this conveys how the young girls are seen as secondary or almost inferior to animals
What is the significance of the two main settings used in The Deliverer?
It might be suggested that Milwaukee Airport represents the more modern west, which is contrasted with the more traditional east, represented by the convent.
What is the significance of the title The Deliverer?
This could relate to the speaker’s mother who transports young girls and ‘delivers’ them to a new family. There are also religious connotations of ‘deliverance’, suggesting that the young girls are saved from the unholy evils of ‘gendercide’
In The Deliverer, what is suggested by the phrase: ‘The girl grows up on video tapes’
This metaphorical image describes how, as the girl grows older, she revisits memories of her troubled youth
In The Deliverer, why do the actions happen ‘outside village boundaries’?
This conveys how transgressive deeds must be hidden from sight.
In The Deliverer, how does Doshi use a pun: ‘mothers go to squeeze out life’
The pun describes how the mother’s both give and take away life.
What is significant about the final line of The Deliverer? ‘Trudge home to lie down for their men again’
The final monosyllabic line suggests this is a blunt reality destined to be repeated as the women are lacking the agency to end this cycle of brutality.
What does the title ‘The Lammas Hireling’ mean?
The title refers to a person that is ‘hired’ during the period of Lammas (harvest-time)
How does The Lammas Hireling begin with a positive tone?
The ‘fair’ that is described has connotations of fun and celebration, and the speaker’s metaphorical ‘light heart’ reinforces this tone of happiness.
In The Lammas Hireling, what is significant about the speaker describing how the hireling ‘struck so cheap’.
This literally describes how the hireling only demanded low wages. However, the verb ‘struck’ has foreceful connotations, which foreshadows the later violence.
In The Lammas Hireling what is significant about the way that the ‘cattle doted on him [the hireling]’?
‘doted’ implies the hireling’s unusual affinity with the natural world and hints at his own inhuman identity
Why does the first stanza of The Lammas Hireling end with ‘Then one night…’
This conveys a change - both in time and tone - as the mood becomes darker and more sinister.
In The Lammas Hireling, what technique is used here? ‘distrubed from dreams of my dear late wife’
The plosive alliteration signals a change to a darker, more troubling tone.
In The Lammas Hireling, the speaker describes confronting the hireling’s true identity via the ‘light of the dark lantern’. What is significant about this image?
This oxymoronic image conveys a sense of confusion and disorder as the speaker discovers the hireling’s true identity.
In The Lammas Hireling, what is meant by the phrase ‘To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow’
This phrase, spoken in dialect and relating to some kind of folklore, suggests that to damage a hare leads to bad luck.
In Lammas Hireling, the speaker calls the hireling a ‘warlock’ - what is this?
A warlock refers to a man that practises witchcraft.
In The Lammas Hireling, what is significant about the following: ‘The moon came out. By its yellow witness.’
Personification. This suggests that the natural world observes and judges the speaker’s transgressions.
In The Lammas Hireling, what is meant by the phrase ‘Now my herd’s elf shot’
This conveys how the speaker’s herd is cursed, a direct juxtaposition to the beginning of the poem where ‘yields doubled’.
In The Lammas Hireling, what is conveyed by the line: ‘casting balls from half crowns’
This describes how the speaker now spends his nights making bullets (‘ball’) from old coins. This juxtaposes the start of the poem, conveying how the money he saved on the hireling is now worthless.
What is suggested by the ending of The Lammas Hireling: ‘Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been an hour since my last confession.’
This final oxymoronic statement conveys the speaker is stuck in a cycle of seeking forgiveness, but never feeling truly absolved.
What is the significance if the first line of Out of The Bag? ‘All of us came in Doctor Kerlin’s bag.’
This establishes that the poem opens with a child’s perspective as he naively thinks that babies come ‘out of the bag.’ The simplicity of this view is reiterated by the simple rhyme of the next line: ‘Those nosy, rosy, big soft hands’
In Out of the Bag, how is Doctor Kerlin presented as an omnipotent, almost God-like figure?
The opening line (‘all of us came in Doctor Kerlin’s bag’) coupled with the comparison of his bag to an ‘ark’ presents how the childish narrator sees him as being like a God.
In Out of the Bag, why is Doctor Kerlin described to be ‘like a hypnotist’?
This simile presents him as mythical/magical to the naive, unknowing child
In Out of the Bag, why does the poet describe Doctor Kerlin’s ‘fur-lined leather collar’, his ‘waistcoat satin’ and his ‘silk lined camel coat’?
These luxurious materials presents Kerlin as a figure from a wealthier, more middle-class world.
In Out of The Bag, Doctor Kerlin is compared to Hyperborean - why?
In Greek mythology the Hyperborean people lived a perfect, Utopian existence - this reflects how the speaker sees Doctor Kerlin as a embodiment of human ideals.
In Out of the Bag, the speaker imagines the ‘swabbed porcelain’/’chill of tiles’ and ‘chrome surgery tools’ of the room where the babies come from. What is significant about this language?
This conveys a clinical, somewhat unsettling tone as the young speaker tried to imagine the formation of new life.
In the second part of Out of the Bag, where does the action of the poem shift to?
Ancient Greece - the narrator (now an adult) explores the links between poetry, religion and healing, as well as the ancient and modern worlds.
Who is Peter Levi (referred to in Out of the Bag?)
an archaeologist, poet and teacher
Who was Asclepius?
the ancient Greek god of healing
In the second part of Out of the Bag, what is significant about the speaker referring to ‘Poeta doctus Peter Levi and the ‘Sanctuaries of Asclepius’?
The references to different people and different worlds present a shift to the perspective of a more knowledgeable, adult figure
In part two of Out of the Bag, the speaker describes visiting Epidaurus, which he describes as ‘a site of incubation’. How are there two meanings to the word ‘incubation’?
1.Incubation describes a process where frail, immature living things are kept warm to survive and grow. Premature babies are kept in incubators. 2.Incubation refers to an ancient ritual where people during sleep believed they were visited by Asclepius (the Greek God of healing) to guide them to health.
