Spring Flashcards
‘_________-shadowed people’
Green
‘children finger the __________ grass’
awakened
What technique is used here: ‘children finger the awakened grass’
Personification
‘________ a cloud stands, _______ a bird sings’
Calmly
‘________ my pursed-up way across the park’
Threading
What does the word gratuitous mean?
Gratuitous - free/giving. This is used to present the natural world as unrestricted and plentiful
What technique is used here: ‘Is fold of untaught flower, is race of water//Is earth’s most multiple, excited daughter’?
Anaphora. This presents the natural world as multiple and vast in its beauty
‘earth’s most multiple, excited ________’
daughter
Why does Larkin compare spring to ‘earth’s most multiple, excited daughter’?
To present it as a time of new life, energy and vibrance
What does the word craven mean?
Craven - cowardly. This is used as the narrator suggests that the path he has chosen, which is different to broader societal norms, is seen by some as odd and cowardly
Why does Larkin use an AB rhyme scheme in the first stanza?
The simple upbeat rhyme scheme is perhaps intended to represent the simple energy and joys of the spring season
What is the effect of the punctuation used? ‘…the balls that bounce, the dogs that bark, The branch-arrested mist of leaf, and me’
The caesura ‘, and me,’ shows a clear divide between the speaker and the vibrant spring season being described. Although he admires the vibrance of nature, he also feels removed from it
