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English > poetry of the decade - examined in 2017/18 > Flashcards

poetry of the decade - examined in 2017/18 Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

what is the significance of the title Effects?

A

polysemic - belongings, or impact

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2
Q

i held her hand = synechdoche

A

her hands show her demise, they prompt a flurry of thought

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3
Q

from chopping, slicing, from the knives that lay in wait = asyndetic list

A

excessive work, shows pain from domestication

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4
Q

knuckles reddened, rough from scrubbing hard

A

physical demise for fulfilling obligations, mum as strong and stoic

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5
Q

giving love the only way she knew

A

limited in how she expresses love, product of her time

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6
Q

cheap cut of meat, in roast and stew

A

patronising, condescending

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7
Q

she cooked and we ate

A

robotic

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8
Q

faded snapshots, long forgotten things

A

symbolism, loss of identity

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9
Q

scent-sprays, tortoise-shell combs = asyndetic list

A

old lady imagery, possessions help determining identity

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10
Q

(scent-sprays, tortoise-shell combs, a snap or two) = parenthesis

A

shows crafted identity through belongings, contrasts later

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11
Q

took a holiday ‘abroad’

A

seeing all foreign countries as the same, speaker is mocking

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12
Q

only now that he was dead. = caesura

A

change in tone, finality of his death

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13
Q

and i’d never known her not have that on = flurry of repeated negators

A

grammatically incorrect, confusing which is representative of the speaker’s feelings and grief

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14
Q

watching soaps = structural parallel to later

A

low brow, zombified form of media, highlights speaker’s feelings of superiority

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15
Q

familiar flavours = alliteration

A

reflects mum liking repetitiveness, creature of habit

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16
Q

not all the weeks i didn’t come, and when she sat = caesura

A

unemotional speaker, lack of reflection

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17
Q

funny foreign stuff

A

idea of older generation, traditional disconnect

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18
Q

stared unseeing = oxymoron/juxtaposition

A

inability to focus suggests she is losing her faculties, deterioration

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19
Q

heaved herself upright

A

strenuous labour, big effort, determination

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20
Q

drink after drink, and gulped and stared = polysyndetic list

A

prolonged mundane existence, excessive, slowed down list reflects effort

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21
Q

that. when he was alive, she wouldn’t touch,// that was her = anaphora

A

shows connection and strange dynamic of their relationship

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22
Q

blinked unseeing = pattern of language relating to vision

A

highlights her demise as there is an emptiness behind her eyes

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23
Q

grew up and learned contempt

A

reflective of their relationship as he speaks dismissively of his mistreatment of her

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23
Q

with her name on it in smudged black ink

A

symbolic of impermanence, her identity is already eroding

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24
Q

on the hand i held, a blotched and wrinkled hand = structural parallelism

A

cyclical which suggests the stream of consciousness of the speaker, as her hands evoke images from his childhood (dynamic)

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25
Q

whose fingers couldn’t clasp at mine any more

A

highlights her demise while suggesting perhaps her desperation to maintain some semblance of a connection

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26
Q

fumble at my sleeve

A

solidifies her feelings of desperation

27
Q

the last words she had said were ‘please don’t leave’ = direct speech

A

can infer feelings of guilt as he remembers it verbatim

28
Q

but of course i left

A

speaker is unsentimental and pragmatic, almost cold and distant

29
Q

little bag of her effects

A

identity and existence reduced to something small, also her death is implied, not explicitly said perhaps conveying he is still coming to terms with it

30
Q

why does the rhyme scheme become tight, previously being rather irregular toward the end of Effects?

A

reflective of the speaker’s attempts to compartmentalise his thoughts and grief

31
Q

what is the importance of the extended use of synechdoche in Effects?

A

her hands represent her life , they are a catalyst for speaker’s nostalgic thoughts

32
Q

what is the significance of the rhyme scheme of Effects oscillating between close and distant?

A

mirrors their relationship, with the pattern changing toward the end and becoming more frequent and dense reflecting the speaker’s growing sense of reality and the finality of her death

33
Q

my father’s in my fingers, but my mother’s in my palms = syntactic parallelism

A

shows balance between the two, repetition conveying both biological and emotional connection

34
Q

i lift them up and look at them with pleasure

A

speaker feels sense of how/wonder that she is a living document of a love shared

35
Q

i know my parents made me by my hands. = declarative and end-stop

A

reflect speaker’s definitive surety of the bond

36
Q

they may have been repelled to separate lands

A

forceful nature of the divide is definitive, serves to emphasise the permanence of the speaker’s connection linking them

37
Q

repelled to separate lands,// to separate hemispheres = repetition

A

on separate lines emphasises distance

38
Q

who quarry for their image by a river = metaphor

A

constantly moving so reflects a difficult task, almost an impossibility to restore relationship

39
Q

i shape a chapel where a steeple stands = childhood finger game

A

connects their marriage to something innocent, joyful, almost praiseworthy - clinging onto nostalgia for a time when parents were more in love

40
Q

my body is their marriage register = metaphor

A

suggests permanence, speaker binds them together in a more powerful way

41
Q

take up the skin’s demands = personification

A

conveys the undeniable drive of the human body

42
Q

if you bequeath your palms

A

poem moves from being about her parents to about her union with a partner

43
Q

we know our parents made us by our hands

A

refrain parallel

44
Q

what is the significance of the title To My Nine-Year-Old Self?

A

dissects ‘myself’ reflecting the different iterations we have

44
Q

what is the villanelle structure of Genetics?

A

alternate lines that tie around each other, reflects structure of DNA, circular form forms a ring, echoing imagery of the poem

45
Q

you must forgive me. = caesura, second person pronoun

A

separation established by pronouns and the old-fashioned, formal language that is indicative of the speaker’s maturity

45
Q

don’t look so surprised,// perplexed, and eager to be gone

A

discomfort of having to face older version

46
Q

balancing on your hands or on the tightrope

A

suggests precariousness

47
Q

rather run than walk, rather climb than run//rather leap = anaphoric repetition

A

emphatic of the advantage, suggests progress and the desire to overreach boundaries of what’s permitted for liberating freedom

47
Q

i have spoiled this body we once shared = separation of pronouns

A

change as irrevocable, transient nature of ageing

48
Q

careful of a bad back or a bruised foot

A

innocuous, minimal injury yet still largely restricting

48
Q

we’d jump straight out of the ground floor window

A

symbolism of escapism and freedom

49
Q

into the summer morning

A

full of bloom and life, start of the day is symbolic of new opportunities

50
Q

that dream we had no doubt it’s as fresh in your mind = past tense

A

speaker reminisces while younger self is optimistic, indicative of innocence and freedom

51
Q

as the white paper to write it on = simile

A

blank slate

52
Q

a baby vole, or a bag of sherbert lemons

A

natural imager/ connotations to childhood nostalgia evoke ideas of freshness and vibrancy

53
Q

created an ice-lolly factory, or a wasp trap = caesura

A

reflects distraction, innocuous things that are interesting novelties for a child

54
Q

but the truth is we have nothing in common = ironic

A

it is the same person so reinforces the change in identity that comes with ageing

55
Q

time to hide down scared lanes//from men in cars = personification

A

predatorial dangers around her that she is too young to fully understand the gravity of

56
Q

that tree//long buried in house

A

urbanisation of nature, implies restriction of freedom

57
Q

i shan’t cloud your morning

A

structurally compares to the summer morning

58
Q

i leave you = separated pronouns

A

suggests the 2 realities of speaker’s iterations cannot coexist as time cuts us off from our younger selves

59
Q

i leave you in an ecstasy of concentration slowly peeling a ripe scab

A

image of absorption in the world of the body and sensation which suggests that even if this imagined dialogue could take place, the child would not be able to understand/engage

60
Q

ripe scab

A

beginning of the aforementioned scars

61
Q

what is significant about the younger self’s depiction in To My Nine-Year-Old Self?

A

does not speak, but her physical presence makes the most vivid impression on the reader

English (34 decks)

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