Steward Island

Question 1

context

Answer 1

-moves to UK at 5 but returned to NZ
-2 unhappy marriages
-then returns to UK as adult
-S.I is 3rd largest island in NZ

Question 2

form

Answer 2

-free verse
-dialogue
-enjambment
-caesura

Question 3

‘But look at all this beauty’
said the hotel manager’s wife’

Answer 3

-opens with frontal coordinate conjunction - suggests a defence
-dialogue - engaging
-sets up the idea that this poem is to do with conflict

Question 4

‘True: there was a fine bay,
all hills and atmosphere’

Answer 4

-Adjective - suggests concession
-‘fine’ is a homonym - could be elegant or average - undermining suggestion that it is beautiful
-vague language

Question 5

‘As for me, I walked on the beach;
it was too cold to swim. My
seven-year-old collected shells
and was bitten by sandflies’

Answer 5

-shift in tone
-typical ‘holiday’ behaviour
-juxtaposed with the negativity that it was too cold to swim
-enjambment - drawing attention to age, which makes child seem vulnerable
-makes sense with the juxtaposition that the child was then bitten

Question 6

‘my four-year-old paddled, until
a mad seagull jetted down
to jab it’s claws and beak into
his head.’

Answer 6

-lowering age, escalating violence
-enjambment places focus on seagull
-personification makes seagull seem more dangerous
-j alliteration - draws attention to violence/emotive verbs

Question 7

‘I had already
decided to leave the country.’

Answer 7

-declarative
-adverb
-past perfect tense
-suggests the reason she’s had such a bad holiday is because she’s already feeling negative
-enjambment focusses on decided (demonstrating her certainty)