WI

Question 1

“The Wild Iris” -> (Iris)

Answer 1

Ironic for “eye”
Perspective

Nature can see things we don’t

Question 2

“The Wild Iris” -> (Wild)

Answer 2

Untamed
Potentially savage
Free

Question 3

“The Wild Iris”

Answer 3

Perennial hardy
Timed
Cyclical

Question 4

The poem is a…

Answer 4

vignette

Question 5

Tone

Answer 5

Didactic
Sermonic
Commanding

Question 6

Flowers in her collection are…

Answer 6

Anthropomorphic
Gives them life / voice
They have perspective

Question 7

Metaphor in general

Answer 7

We start weak and then grow

Question 8

“At the end of my suffering” -> (My)

Answer 8

Collective to one
Insular perspective to one flower

Question 9

“At the end of my suffering”

Answer 9

Flower sees death as a breach

Question 10

“…door”

Answer 10

Graphic imagery
Man-made

Doors can open to give you opportunities and new-beginnings BUT can also close

Choice

Question 11

Stanzaic poem

Answer 11

Dramatic pauses.
Gathering her thoughts

Question 12

“Hear me out”

Answer 12

Vernacular
Colloquial

Question 13

“That which you call death / I remember” -> (you)

Answer 13

Hyperbolic
Flower has personality
Reference to humans in general

Question 14

“That which you call death / I remember” -> (I remember)

Answer 14

We can’t remember, but the flower can

Superiority

Question 15

“Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting”

Answer 15

Aural imagery
Cinematic

Question 16

“Flickered over the dry surface” -> (Flickered)

Answer 16

Candle
Extinguishing
Death

Question 17

“Flickered over the dry surface” -> (dry)

Answer 17

Needs water
Death the flowers experience

Question 18

“weak sun”

Answer 18

Oxymoron
Lacking energy

Pathetic fallacy of the flower’s death

Question 19

“It is terrible”

Answer 19

Raw honesty
Sinister tone

Question 20

“That which you fear” -> (you fear)

Answer 20

Humans fear death
Death is a transitory experience, temporary

Question 21

5th and 6th stanza are the biggest of the 7 stanzas…

Answer 21

Last bit of energy

Question 22

“stiff earth / bending a little.” -> (bending a little)

Answer 22

Preparing for the flower to come out
OR
Making room for a coffin -> When we die we will be part of the earth

Question 23

“stiff earth / bending a little.” -> (caesura)

Answer 23

Short, quick pause
Childish

Question 24

“birds darting in low shrubs”

Answer 24

Kinaesthetic movement
Link “birds” to God’s metaphor in the other poems of humans being birds

Question 25

"Whatever / returns from oblivion returns / to find a voice"

Answer 25

Metaphysical death You have to go through pain to understand what pleasure is Cycle of trauma Eros = Pursuit for happiness Humans don't remember our past life because we have linear lives, not cyclical When you return, you prove that you are a survivor, strong individual that has changed into something powerful

Question 26

"center of my life"

Answer 26

Allusion to the flower's stem The stem acts as a spine It is a life force

Question 27

"fountain"

Answer 27

Man-made Connotation of life

Question 28

Wider messages

Answer 28

Be fearful, but use that fear as a tool Flowers have no legacy because they'll come back. Unlike humans We should undergo an emotional or mental rebirth rather than a physical one Thenatos: Freudian death drive. We feel more alive when closer to death

Question 29

The Wild Iris' suffering is...

Answer 29

Looking up to heaven

Question 30

Terms that must be used when analysing this poem

Answer 30

Germination Evolution Cyclical pattern of death is similar to the seasons Rejuvenation Living to die Reincarnation Trivialising hardships Hope that we come back