Poems of the decade general

Question 1

Why is the title of the furthest distance I’ve travelled significant?

Answer 1

• Sense of personal achievement
• Tone of importance through the superlative
• Implies a personal journey through the first person pronoun
• Sense that she is looking back and how she recognises the distance
• Sense of emotional geography through the relationship between emotions and geographical places
• Literal sense through travelling and emotional through maturing emphasising the importance of the cyclical structure through emotional geography

Question 2

The repetition of the personal pronoun my

Answer 2

• It demonstrates how the speaker feels about her journey as necessary for personal development as the simile, “curved under like a meridian,” suggests that she wants to become the globe
• It can also be interpreted as demonstrating a geographical link with meridian being a line on maps which splits the earth, such as the East-West meridian. Therefore, this imagery helps to reinforce the idea of travel and change early on, but also the idea of different halves and parts, indicating a change of situation and thoughts later in the poem.
• Flynn her exposes her own her own travels and dreams while she was a student
• But also it reveals a possible underlying fear through a sense of struggle with her own weight
• She wants to be proud of her journey ergo early recognition that something will change because of her distances

Question 3

Enjambment

Answer 3

• Her restless mind as she is moving from place to place without little reflection as the only thought she had after the caesura, “yes.” which instead shows her determination to travel. She fails to consider the extent of her journey which she only reflects on at the end of the novel, could this be a sign of emotional immaturity
• Mirror the distances she has travelled
• It creates an energetic tone through confidence and excitement that contrasts the uncertainty at the end of the poem
• It creates a romantic chanting rhythm that emphasises her attitude towards travel
• The forced enjambment in stanza 3,”anony-mity,” emphasises her unusual life and the pause creates a sense of uneasiness as her life is fragmented through constant movement
• Lack of shift until the end as she still continues to travel

Question 4

Structure

Answer 4

• At the start of the poem, the use of free verse shows the irregularity of her journey but also her life through prolonged travelling
• However, this shifts at the end of the poem through the use of rhyming couplets as it creates a sense of conclusion that travelling is in the past but also how she has settled down within her life

Question 5

Setting

Answer 5

Setting is established through syndetic listing that creases the pace and creates a sense of energy how she moving from place to place rather than facing her emotional issues as she visits the, “Siberian,” which has connotations of isolation suggesting that travelling is some sort of coping mechanism to her problems. She has an abstract meaning of future and her life as she leaves it to, “destiny,”

Question 6

Volta in stanza 5

Answer 6

• There is a shift in location through returning to Britain and reality through the, “post office,” that juxtaposes the carefree nature of her travels that characterised her lack of permeance in her 20s
• The shift is extremely sudden implying that it was a rapid shift that she is unprepared for. She can expect difficulties in travel but she doesn’t expect having to rely on, “giro,”
• The alliterative, “hastily into a holdall,” implies a sense of fear at accepting reality

Question 7

Entering monotony

Answer 7

• The speaker has, “overdue,” laundry that symbolises that her life has no room for adventure as the freedom has restricted her ability to travel
• She doesn’t understand how she has entered reality
• Could reflect that within life, she feels that she has missed life milestones
• Sense of pointlessness at her past travels as they are only significant in the moment

Question 8

Juxtaposing the start of the poem

Answer 8

Her, “routine evictions,” implies a sense of regret as she can’t understand reality as she is trapped and forced to live as she no longer has the freedom to travel. Her old life is incongruous with her present as her, “crushed valentines,” through dreams and past relationships become part of the past forcing her to accept reality

Question 9

Sense of maturity

Answer 9

• Juxtaposes her youthful characterisation at the start of the poem
• Recognises the importance of personal connection
• Reflection on physical and mental journeys
• Contrast between material and emotional wealth
• Melancholic tone implies that her connections lack permeance as she has never settled but ultimately that doesn’t matter as she has been able to grow as a person because she recognises that she has still formed these connections that provide her with emotional wisdom