Sounds of the day

Question 1

“When a clatter came,”

Answer 1

Onomatopoeia/Alliteration

• startling noises
• descriptive detail- he is alert to these sounds

Personification
-playful/ light

Question 2

“A Snuffling puff”

Answer 2

Assonanace
-sound of waves (nature is alive)

contrast
snuffling puff=peaceful/soft
clatter came= harsh

Question 3

“When the black drums rolled, it was water/ falling sixty feet into itself.”

Answer 3

W.C
“black”
-dark/serious/negative connotations- foreshadows the seriousness to come( a storm)

metaphor
-creates contrast

Question 4

“When the door/ scraped shut, it was the end/ of all the sounds there are.”

Answer 4

metaphor
- darke tone/despair

W.C
“scraped”
-harsh word/negative connotations
“end”- comparing it to the end of the relationship

Hyberbole

• “end….”
• intensifies the impact of loos on his feelings

suggests that once the door is shut, it will never be reopened.

Question 5

“You left me/ beside the quietest fire in the world.”

Answer 5

W.C
“you”
-blunt/ straight to the point
-direct- is addressing her

“you left me”

• he is making it clear that he is the victim
• wants to make sure she knows this
• very direct

Hyperbole

• “beside…world”
• shows his emotional pain
• symbolic of their relationship as it is only the embers left as the fire is dying out, just like the relationship

paradox

• fires are normally noisy and full of life but this one isn’t
• shows his inability to enjoy sounds after this breakup

Question 6

“I thought I was hurt in my pride only”

Answer 6

showing that it was not just his ego that as hurt, but he was genuinely upset over this break up

Question 7

“When you plunge your hand in freezing water,/ you feel/ A bangle of ice around your wrist/ Before the whole hand goes numb.”

Answer 7

Metaphor

• shows that it’s been so difficult losing her that he cannot see/ hear/feel anything
• highlights the emotional impact this breakup has had on him
• contrast the the start of the poem

paradox
“hand”“feel”“numb”
- the hand allows touch, yet he cannot feel the emotional pain he is faced with
(he could feel before, but is unable to now after she has left)

W.C
“bangle”
-bangle is attached to her, but he can no longer feel her =numb
-bangle suggests a sense of restriction - he feels restricted in what he does now that she’s gone

“numb”

• relates to his emotional/physical pain
• bleak tone
• sense of hurt/abandonment
• bleak finish