Eden rock 🪨💀 Flashcards
Fill in the gaps and give anaylsis: ‘somewhere beyond ____rock’
Hint: adverb, parents in an afterlife+ a living person cannot know the afterlife- why?
‘somewhere beyond Eden rock’
L= somewhere- use of adverb because the speaker doesn’t know where his parents are. This is because they get are in an afterlife and a living person cannot know the afterlife.
This is also because death and the afterlife are beyond linguistic representation.
C= Biblical reference. We associate paradise with Eden and Causley has deliberately chosen a biblical reference in his choice of name for the rock because, being reunited with his parents will be like paradise.
‘colour of wheat, _____ __ ___ _____’
Hint: L, D, angelic, lyrical language, love transcends _____, C- poem written after mum died- what does this suggest?
Hint#2: maddona-like
‘colour of wheat, takes on the light’
L= language has become more lyrical.
- In religious terms, it connotes a halo or a spiritual light that emanates. (Because the idea of light coming through her hair creates an angelic image’.
D= On a deeper level, it suggests the speaker sees his mother as madonna- like, a spiritually pure figure.
- natural language is in conjunction with theme of death + afterlife- suggests that death is inevitable, because there is no way to stop the natural profession of life
- also suggest that love transcends death
C= poem was written after mother’s death, could suggest that he still thinks and loves his mum
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘I had not______ it would be like this.’
Hint: D- death is taboo, separation of speaker from parents, tense change contrasts with last line of previous stanza- what does this suggest?
‘I had not thought it would be like this.’
L= concludes poem with a single line stanza
L= ambiguous pronoun ‘it’ refers to passing to the afterlife
L= tense change contrasts with the last line of previous stanza. Suggest the speaker has already crossed into the afterlife.
D= On a deeper level, it suggests that death is a taboo subject.
- the last line is separate from the rest of the poem- symbolises separation that the speaker experiences, from his parents.
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘an old . _____ bottle’
Hint: what mood + colloquial language- speaker cares for and _______ parents because it creates a sense of ________.
‘an old H.P sauce bottle’
- has an affectionate mood.
R= Effect of referring to brand names, it that it’s familiar to the reader.
- use of colloquial language suggests that the speaker cares for and remembers his parents, because it creates a sense of nostalgia.
‘____ ___ waiting for me’
Hint: L, R-engages the reader, D-plural pronoun, C- wishful thinking
‘They are waiting for me’
L= poet begins with the plural pronoun they.
R= engages the reader because we wonder who they are and why they are waiting for him.
D= On a deeper level, beginning the poem with a plural pronoun suggests that the speaker sees them as a couple. This is wishful thinking.
C= Contextually important because this is wishful thinking on the poet. Speaker’s experience reflects how Causley’s father died young because of a survived gas attack and he was raised by his widowed mother.
What are the themes in Eden rock?
- memory
- longing
- family
- past
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘The sky _______ as if lit by ___ _____ ____’.
L= simile- changes tone of poem, D- change in light is a ________ for parents to see him.
‘The sky whitens as if lit by the three suns’
L= use of simile changes the tone of the poem- because it becomes surreal with description of three suns.
D= change in light is a catalyst for his parents to see him, + the bright light represents the light from Heaven.
- However ‘three suns’ could represent the family triangle: mother, father and speaker- it is symbolic of purity + concept of Holy trinity.
What poems can we compare Eden rock to?
- before you were mine
- follower
- climbing my grandfather
Fill in the gaps about the structure of Eden rock: The first _____ stanzas are written in ________, but regular structure breaks in the fourth, 7th line stanza. Why?
Hint: life to afterlife- shift in focus.
The first three stanzas are written in quatrains, but regular structure breaks in the fourth, 7th line stanza
- happens because shift in focus as speaker moves from to life to his parents in the afterlife.
Fill in the gaps about the structure of Eden rock: The last ____ of the ______ stanza is emphasised because it is end-stopped. Why?
The last line of the second stanza is emphasised because it is end-stopped
- emphasises mother’s spiritual light and it contrasts with the stanzas that come before + after it, because it focuses on the spiritual rather than the physical.
Fill in the gaps about the rhyme scheme of Eden rock: Eden rock has __ rhyme scheme because…
Eden rock has no rhyme scheme because…
- the poem has elements of uncertainty, such as the speaker not knowing where his parents area, it could reflect this.
- Alternatively, it could also reflect the lack of restrictions of the afterlife.
