Rosemary Dobson Poem Quotes

Question 1

What are your quotes for Young Girl At A Window?

Answer 1

1. “Lift your hand to the window latch: Sighing, turn and move away.” - window is symbol for freedom or possibilities out of reach potentially due to patriarchy.
2. “Time was killed and now lies dead. Or, time was lost” - Hyperbolic statement emphasises personas feeling of hopelessness at unchanging situation. Time was lost is more hopeful and changes the tone in second stanza. Persona acknowledges that time had instead been stolen from her by oppressive society.
3. “Through grass and sheaves and, lastly, snow.” - Symbolic of changing seasons. Inevitable passing of time, persona chooses to reclaim her time as her own.
4. Three stanzas with distinct tone shifts between them. Despair to hopeful to determined. Just as time continues to change so does the persona as she is forced to face her obstacles and move forward.

Question 2

What are your quotes for Cock Crow?

Answer 2

1. First-person narration and visual imagery of night and bridge to build a quiet eery setting, illustrates isolation. Poem has a slowness to it created by line endings which are structured such that they invite longer pauses from readers between lines and stanzas. This conveys the pensive nature of the text and persona’s hesitation.
2. “I took the road, and at the bridge turned back” - bridge symbolises persona’s choice to stay with family or escape responsibilities. Unable to abandon family and so doesn’t cross.
3. “love that grows about the bone” - persona’s familial connection give her strength and support her. Thus, poem creates paradox from which we see hoe humans yearn for connections and gain purpose through them but can lose their sense of self by devoting themseles to these people.
4. “Thrice for me I heard the cock crow” - Allusion to bible where Peter was told by Jesus that before the rooster crows, you wil disown me three times. In the poem’s context, the cock crowing acts as a reminder to the persona not to den her responsibilities. The allusion thus shows the immense guilt the persona feels for wanting to abandon her domestic responsibilities.

Question 3

What are your quotes for Over the Hil?

Answer 3

1. The title of the poem “Over the hill” - Idiom that refers to people past their prime and getting old. Hill is an extended metaphor for challenges we experience in life. The idea that as we grow older, we continue to climb hills shows how humans are forced to overcome challenges through the progression of life.
2. “With bluntly forward boots that toss the roan earth out like chaff behind; His swung cap scooping cups of wind” - Simile of earth like chaff where chaff represent the part of wheat thrown away indicates worthlessness. Similarly the metaphor of cups of wind invokes the idea of something insubstantial. They represent the futility of the workmans labour as they will be lost with time once he dies. However, this is also the case for the workmans worries and troubles which leads to his optimistic nature.
3. “His eyes’ lit windows… While the day slowly drains away” - Shows optimisim. Cliche of eyes are windows to the soul shows that the workman maintains his optimism and confidence as he gets older. He is aware of death as seen through the aliteration in day and drain which empahsise the reality of death and shows that the workman is unconcerned by this reality.
4. “He could move mountains if he cared” - Biblical allusion to Jesus stating that faith can move mountains. In this case, it is the workmans confidence, optimism and reality that allow him to move mountains. If hills represent challenges then mountains represent much greater feats.