Poetry - Human Situations Essay Flashcards
Personal Helicon Paragraph 1
“And old punks with buckets and windlasses. / I loved the dark drip, the trapped sky, the smells / Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss.”
Assonance and alliteration of “d” highlights fascination. Human situation is having weird niches.
Personal Helicon Paragraph 2
Decasyllabic quatrains structure - childlike quality which highlights growing up. Still exploring oneself.
“So deep you saw no reflection in it.” Metaphor, suggesting not knowing oneself yet - human situation is finding identity.
Personal Helicon Paragraph 3
Greek mythology. “To stare, big-eyed Narcissus” - Myth of Narcissus who died looking at his reflection. Understanding oneself from earlier seems unnerving now, not a fun pastime.
“Helicon” Spring with muses. Themes of inspiration and self reflection throughout. Unhealthy obsession with self.
Blackberry Pickings Paragraph 1
Bipartite Structure to separate childhood innocence from adult pessimism.
“Late August, given heavy rain and sun” Immediate contrast highlighted. Paradoxical aspect foreshadowing conflicted feelings.
Blackberry Pickings Paragraph 2
“flesh was sweet”. Link to human body and themes of mortality. “thickened wine: summer’s blood” Blood emphasises this. Wine and flesh evokes ideas of Jesus’s blood and body before crucifixion - again mortality. Human situation is learning about death and its inevitability.
Blackberry Pickings Paragraph 3
“Our palms as sticky as Bluebeard’s.” Story of murderer, suggests once we learn the truth we cannot go back - loss of innocence.
“Sweet flesh would turn sour”. Emphasises that. Fermentation. Reinforces earlier contrast.
Death Of A Naturalist Paragraph 1
Like BP has bipartite structure to emphasise the two views.
Moves to “the slap and plop were obscene threats.” Highlighting new fear and danger - like personal Helicon it becomes unnerving. Growing up is part of situation.
Death Of A Naturalist Paragraph 2
Like the wells in PH find childish comfort in Nature at start. Human situation is having own loves an interest. “Gargled delicately” highlights love for unsettling aspects.
“Best of all was the warm thick slobber” Highlights passion. Dog metaphor suggests disgustingly pleasant.
Death Of A Naturalist Paragraph 3
“The daddy frog was called a bullfrog/And how he croaked and how the mammy frog/Laid hundreds of little eggs” Innocence, still unaware of reproduction.
Links back to BP and how once you lose that innocence you can’t get it back. Disgust found in the truth of adulthood.
