Poetry

Question 1

“And I was desolate and sick of an old passion” (LOSS, ENDINGS)

Answer 1

• This repeated last line parallels to Gatsby and his continuing obsession over Daisy. The adjective “sick” compares the woman to a disease which he is unable to cure; he misses her so much that she is causing him physical pain. He is almost grieving this relationship.
• It is also rhythmically different. Broadly the metre in the rest of the poem is iambic with the stress on the second syllable. In this line the metre changes. The word “desolate” is dactylic, with a stressed first syllable and two unstressed following syllables. It gives emphasis mid-way rather than at the end of the line. It is the dominant image of the poem.

Question 2

“I cried for madder music and stronger wine” (LOSS, ENDINGS)

Answer 2

• There is desperation in Dowson’s “cry” for the consonantly rhymed “madder music and stronger wine”: metaphors for the passion he feels for this other lover or prostitute.
• He uses a lexical field of nouns that express his desires: “music”, “wine”, and “roses”. Clearly he believes they could reach great heights.
• The alliteration of “madder music” exacerbates the frustration in his voice as he tries to drown out Cynarae with the sound of music. The superlative “madder” emulates the height of his desperation and extreme desire. He is going through an addiction.

Question 3

“Bought red mouth” (GENDER)

Answer 3

• The ‘kisses of her bought red mouth …’ are clearly those of a prostitute.
• Dowson has used a woman for physical relief, but his mind is on his ‘old passion’.
• This is a contrast to what went before; definitely not a poem of courtly love.
• Reduction through synecdoche of woman to her mouth is dehumanising

Question 4

“But when the feast is finished, and the lamps expire” (GENDER)

Answer 4

• There is a sense that the passion doesn’t belong to the real world; it needs artifical light and when they ‘expire’ the reality is greyness and darkness.
• So, nothing can truly satisfy his desire or bring him happiness without Cynarae – it is a hopeless existence.

Question 5

“Graven with diamonds” (LOSS, GENDER, PAINS)

Answer 5

• The word “graven” is a harsh verb, describing indenting something.
• The diamond collar shows she belongs to someone of high status.
• The phrase “graven with diamonds” is contradictory that something seemingly beautiful is being suppressed and indented.
• The verb “graven” is harsh and evokes the speaker’s feeling of defeat over his opponent. It also suggests that the woman is bound captive forever in this relationship: linking with the idea of ‘Til death do us part’ .
• The “diamonds” imply that the woman’s partner is extremely wealthy. There is a juxtaposition between the beautiful and precious “diamonds” and the dark imagery of “graven”.
• This quote forms a direct parallel to Daisy and Tom in the Great Gatsby. On the eve of their wedding, Tom gifted Daisy “a string of pearls” which are worth over $5 million in modern day money.
• She proceeds to “pull” them off her neck. The pearls symbolise how Tom effectively ‘bought’ his marriage to Daisy. Her passionate act of “pull[ing]” them off but then continuing to marry him suggests that she is a highly materialistic person.

Question 6

“I am of them that farthest cometh behind” (LOSS, GENDER, PAINS)

Answer 6

• Allieteration of ‘f’ sounds link the deer to the speaker, nevertheless they are separated by the line break.
• Mirrors how he connected he is to her mentally (a compulsion) versus how she is not his.

Question 7

“Alone and palely loitering” (LOSS)

Answer 7

• The poem’s first and final image is of a desperate man lingering in the memory of an experience that may not have even happened.
• Ultimately, it doesn’t matter because his all-consuming sorrow is through the fault of his idealistic ideas of “La Belle Dame”.
• The verb phrase, “palely loitering” is used to present the miserable and lamentable emotions flowing through the knight’s mind as he solely waits for his loved one. The premodifier “palely” is explicitly used as a colour imagery to illustrate his dim mood due to his feelings of isolation.

Question 8

“With anguish moist and fever-dew/ And on thy cheeks a fading rose/ Fast withereth too”. (LOSS)

Answer 8

• Relation to water and the female- the knight’s sorrow over la belle dame has manifested into physical illness- showing how far she has corrupted his being.
• Metaphor- the rose, a symbol of love, fading implies the knight felt a love so strong it is possible to see it physically leave his body.
• She has reduced him to a weak image of the masculine, powerful “knight” he once was.

Question 9

“Though the sedge has withered from the lake/ And no birds sing” (LOSS, ENDINGS, PAINS)

Answer 9

• Personification of the plant moving away from the water (life giving source associated with femininity), creating a melancholy and pathetic image of a dying plant.
• “No birds sing”- lack of life, knight is left bereft. Representative of the knight’s inner emotional life. Joy is gone. Spondaic (1 syllable words), definitive.
• In this personification, the concrete noun “sedge” represents the state of their relationship, the fact that it has “withered” signifies that their relationship has ended. Despite how faithfully the knight waits, his loved one will not return. The personification of the sedge can be seen as a pathetic fallacy which suggests the tragic consequences that the knight will have to face.

Question 10

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds” (COMMITMENT)

Answer 10

• Immediately evokes the institution or sacrament of marriage. Yet the speaker suggests that the union of two suited minds should be free to join together.
• Enjambment separates “marriage of two minds” from “admit impediments” emphasising that true love should have no impediments.

Question 11

“Love’s not Times’ fool” (COMMITMENT)

Answer 11

• “Time’s” capitalisation indicates it has been personified, specifically as Death.
• This therefore refers to how love can transcend time, much how Gatsby loves Daisy across multiple times in his life.

Question 12

“Remember me” (COMMITMENT)

Answer 12

• Repetition of the central request “remember” indicates speaker’s hope of everlasting love.
• Repetition also conveys the finality of poem’s message- speaker will likely not be seen or heard from again.
• Imperative language signals a demand.

Question 13

“You tell me of our future that you had planned” (COMMITMENT)

Answer 13

• direct address- clearly intended for a loved one.
• implies their love was set in stone- both demanding an unattainable future- link to Daisy and Gatsby.

Question 14

“I must all other beauties wrong” (COMMITMENT, GENDER)

Answer 14

• Ironically suggests that he would wrong other women by not sleeping with him.
• Illustrates his arrogance and the male stereotype of casual physical relationships, similar to Tom Buchanan.

Question 15

“Tedious 12 hours space” (COMMITMENT, GENDER)

Answer 15

• The alliteration and assonance of ‘tedious twelve’ is in itself tedious.
• The speaker puts her down by intimating their time together was boring or unsatisfying.
• This is dismissive and objectifies the woman as their relationship seems transactional.

Question 16

“Ev’n sated with variety” (GENDER)

Answer 16

• Image of greed, gluttony and selfishness.
• Objectifies women as objects of physical intimacy.

Question 17

“Now let us sport while we may” (PAINS)

Answer 17

• He views sex as a purely physical relationship, objectifying the women as equipment.