Sonnet Flashcards
‘Time does not bring relief; you all have lied’
What technique is used for ‘time’?
What is the significance of using ‘you’?
What technique is the ; an example of?
TIME is personified to put emphasis behind her statement
In using ‘YOU’ the author brings a rather accusatory tone to address the reader directly
The ; is an example of a caesura, which brings a pause before a significant sentence
‘I miss him at the weeping of the rain’
What is this symbolic of?
Her tears
‘I want him at the shrinking of the tide’
What does this line suggest?
The tide is controlled by the moon, which refers to the night, so we can perhaps detect sexual undertones
This point is furthered, when, earlier on in the line, she writes ‘I want him’
Millay writes ‘shrinking, weeping, etc in present tense - what does this suggest?
A sense of the fact that it is all still happening now
In the first few lines, there is a lexical field of water.
- What words are part of the field?
- Why is this done - what does water symbolise?
- The lexical field includes words like weeping, rain, tide, snow melt etc
- The repeated imagery of water may be symbolic of her tears, therefore representing grief. Also, water is often associated with hysteria, which, in literature, is seen as a typically female trait
The first line reads:
‘Time does not bring relief; you all have lied’
What can we say about the word order of the sentence?
Millay writes in a fairly archaic syntax, perhaps to give a feeling of time, or to be able to emphasise the word ‘lied’ at the end of the sentence
This style of poetry is reflective of Miltons literary style
‘The old snows melt from every mountain side’
Why is the word ‘every’ used I’m this context?
To imply that grief surrounds her - it is surmountable, compared to a mountain
‘And last years leaves are smoke in every lane;’
What is smoke representative of?
The use of smoke as an image suggests that she is feeling suffocated. Also, smoke is intangible, amd out of reach
‘But last years bitter loving must remain’
What technique is used?
‘Bitter loving’ is an example of an oxymoron
‘Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide’
- What is the significance of using the word ‘heaped’?
- What is the significance of using the word ‘abide’
HEAPED - a burden she carries around with her, also refers to the extended metaphor of leaves
ABIDE - suggests toleration. There is no escape - she has to put up with these memories.
‘And last years leaves are smoke in every lane
But last years bitter loving must remain’
Why is ‘last years’ repeated?
To suggest ongoing suffering - links back to the idea of repeating present tense (eg weeping, shrinking)
‘…with his memory they brim’
What does brim suggest?
Overflowing with tears and grief
‘And entering with relief some quiet place’
What does relief suggest?
The wants to be done with the grief - she wants to rid herself of grief
‘Where never fell his foot or shone his face’
What does shone suggest?
The idea of light, perhaps carries religious undertones
‘I say, “there is no memory of him here!”’
What does the punctuation at the end suggest?
The emphatic use of punctuation at the end of the line suggests a sense of relief
