To Marguerite

Question 1

‘Yes! In the sea of life enisled’

What does the ‘Yes!’ suggest?

Answer 1

• It is quite emphatic
• Suggests that he has reached a decision
• Passionate
• Suggests that it is something which he has spent a lot of time thinking about

Question 2

What does the metaphor ‘sea of life’ mean?

Answer 2

A metaphor for the fact that our experiences in life are what separate us - we are isolated

Question 3

‘With echoing straits between us thrown’
What is the significance of the word ‘echoing’?
What is the sentence saying?

Answer 3

• ECHOING - emptiness, loneliness

The sentence says that there are obstacles in the way

Question 4

‘Dotting the scoreless watery wild’

• What is the significance of the word ‘dotting’?
• ‘Watery wild’ is an example of which technique?
• What does this term suggest?

Answer 4

• DOTTING - signifies insignificance
• WATERY WILD is an example of am oxymoron (weak vs wild) perhaps in order to reflect the contrast and the differences in all of us
• The term suggests that it is uncontrollable, we can’t conquer it

Question 5

‘We mortal millions love alone’

• What technique is used?
• How is a juxtaposition of ideas created?

Answer 5

• Alliteration is used to emphasise that we are isolated despite the many millions of us
• Juxtaposition is created in ‘millions’ and ‘alone’ to reinforce that we are isolated in life

Question 6

‘The Islands feel the enclasping flow’
What do the islands represent?
What does the word ‘enclasping’ suggest?

Answer 6

ISLANDS - loneliness, we are all separated and isolated from one another
ENCLASPING - we are encompassed by life

Question 7

What is the literal meaning of the poem?

Answer 7

We are separated and isolated in life - yearning to rectify this but we can’t

Question 8

‘And then in their endless bounds they know’
What technique is used?
What does is suggest?
What does the sentence suggest?

Answer 8

• The term ‘endless bounds’ is oxymoronic’
• It suggests that we are given our limits
• This line suggests a sense of acceptance

Question 9

A lexical field of water is created throughout the first stanza including what words?

Answer 9

Sea, straits, watery, Islands, flow

Question 10

What do the repeated images of water represent?

Answer 10

• May represent grief or tears
• Water is often associated with hysteria, which, in literature, is seen as a traditionally female trait
• Freedom and purity

Question 11

The second stanza begins with ‘But’

What is this am example of?

Answer 11

A voter - brings a change

Question 12

‘But when the moon their hollows lights’
What is implied by the word hollow?
What is implied by the imagery of the moon?

Answer 12

HOLLOWS - emptiness

MOON - reminds us of the night, so perhaps carries sexual undertones

Question 13

What does spring represent?

Answer 13

Youth and new life

Question 14

‘The nightingales divinely sing’
What is the significance of these words?
What do nightingales suggest?

Answer 14

Musical Imagery - links in with ‘notes’ on the following line
NIGHTINGALES
- Often connected with lovers
- Seen as being quite melancholy
- Often seen as an inspiration for romantic poets

Question 15

‘Across the sounds and channels pour - ‘
What does this sentence suggest?
What technique is used and why?

Answer 15

• The line suggests a hope of some sort of connection between the islands
• Enjambement is used to reflect the continued metaphor of the endlessly flowing sea

Question 16

‘Oh! Then a longing like despair’
What is the significance of the ‘Oh!’?
What does this line suggest?

Answer 16

• By opening the stanza with a fairly emphatic ‘Oh!’ the author is able to suggest an idea of disconnection
• The line as a whole works to suggest an idea of hopelessness

Question 17

‘For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent!’
What does this reflect?

Answer 17

• These two lines reflect the fact that all land masses were once one continent
• -> Metaphorical of the fact that we have drifted apart and become like Islands

Question 18

‘Now round us spreads the watery plain - ‘
What does the sentence suggest?
What does the word ‘spreads’ suggest?
What does the word ‘watery’ suggest?

Answer 18

• The sentence suggests that we are now isolated
• The term ‘spreads’ suggests that the problem is growing and getting worse - we are becoming farther apart
• The word watery means weak

Question 19

‘Oh might our marges meet again!’

What does this suggest?

Answer 19

Suggests that boundaries exist which cannot be undone

Question 20

‘Who order’d, that their longing’s fire’
Who does Arnold blame? Think ahead to other lines in the poem
What does fire represent?

Answer 20

• This then becomes an attack on religion - Arnold blames god - a few lines ahead he writes ‘a God, a God their severance ruled!’ In answer to his own question
• Fire is used to represent passion

Question 21

‘Should be, as soon as kindled, cool’d?
Who renders vain their deep desire? - ‘
Both lines end with a… which suggests….

Answer 21

Both lines end with a question mark which suggests confusion - he is questioning the situation

Question 22

'And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplum'd, salt, estranging sea'
What do....
- Unplumb'd
- Salt
- Estranging
...represent in this context?

Answer 22

UNPLUMB’D - an unknown depth - how far apart will we grow?
SALT - bitterness, unpleasant
ESTRANGING - separating

Question 23

Who wrote ‘To Marguerite’ and when did they live?

Answer 23

MATTHEW ARNOLD

1822 - 1888

Question 24

What were Arnold’s main influences?

Answer 24

Isolation, alienation, longing for bonds which cannot take place