Song Flashcards
What is the metaphysical conceit of the poem?
‘What if we were birds?’
What is ‘bright bait’ a reference to?
John Donne’s metaphysical poem ‘The Bait’ in which he describes a loved one as being like bait to him.
What is ‘sirens in a cage’ reference to?
Greek mythology - Sirens were the evil women with beautiful singing voices who would lure sailors to their death on the rocks with their song.
Describe the poets position of entrapment.
The poet is just as trapped as his lover in this situation – for whilst she is caged, he is trapped by the beauty of her song.
Why has Sheers used the conceit of a magpie?
Magpies = attracted to pretty / shiny things
What do the ‘others’ represent?
Other sexual partners of the lover. Sheers’ reference to the ‘oil spill of your plumage, the darkness of your eye’ harks back to Shakespeare’s sonnets to his ‘Dark Lady’
Describe Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’.
This was a woman he was constantly accusing of promiscuity and writing about how he needed to come to terms with her other loves.
What does the farmer represent?
Fate. If the poet is right and the lovers are destined to be together, then all his lovers’ subsequent partners will be taken away from her, eventually leaving her free to join him.
What is the significance of ‘oil spill’ in a modern sense?
Sheers wrote this poem in a society in which wars were being fought in countries under the basic premise that the USA wanted to take oil from Eastern countries..
