Going To Him Happy Letter Flashcards
Key themes
Love, excitement, regulation
Why is this poem a stark contrasts to other poems
It holds optimism and themes of love
How does the poem keep with the context of a typical Victorian women
The undertones of tension and restrain because they couldn’t ‘put themselves out’ (wait for a suitor, so sending a letter is improper)
Key techniques
Irregular line length, caesura, bathos
Expl. “Going to him happy letter”
Immediately sets a tone of happiness. Quite unseen in the rest of the canon (already can tell poem is anomalous)
Explain “I only said the syntax”
Refers to framework, perhaps of social rules? Comforting to society May prevent what the speaker really wants to say (left the Verb and pronoun out)
Explain “and left the verb and pronoun out”
Implies cryptic expression of love with letter acting as the medium
Explain “tell him how the fingers hurried-then-how they waded-slow-slow”
Implies gushing thoughts followed by self regulation (maybe fearing that the speaker may feel improper) -also implies sensuality
Explain “you could hear the bodice tug, behind you”
The letter is kept in the bodice of the speaker (erotic undertones?) -either towards the man or the art of writing
Explain “as if it held but the might of a child”
The letter is written with young raw energy. -it could be the speakers vulnerability. Contrasts any ideas of sensibility in attempting to restrain
Explain “you almost pitied it”
Bathos- undercutting sadness in the middle of a poem about happiness and excitement
Explain “it would split his heart to know”
Is there another man? Would this truth hurt the man she is writing to?
Explain “and then you and I were silenter”
Implies end of correspondence and possibly because of the split heart already mentioned
Explain “night finished before we finished”
Holds sexual undertones. Contrasts bizarrely with nursery rhyme structure of third stanza
Explain “gesture coquette and shake your head”
Remain flirtatious but do not disclose yourself, or in other words, the letter is designed to tease the man that receives it
