as imperceptibly as grief form, structure and language

Question 1

what the story is about

Answer 1

• the poem begins by describing how SUMMER comes to end so GRADUALLY that you don’t notice when it finishes
• the end of summer seems to represent the END OF GRIEF. the speaker suggest that the grieving process ends so SUBTLY that it creates another sense of LOSS
  KEY IDEA - her meditation on the nature of time - it suggests that people don’t always notice the gradual undergoing as we go through life

Question 2

describe the form of the poem

Answer 2

the poem’s rhythm mirrors the pattern of EVERYDAY SPEECH, making it sound like the narrator’s honest THOUGHTS. the poet uses long dashes rather than convention punctuation —these create LONG PAUSES and enhance the poem’s slow, REFLECTIVE mood

Question 3

describe the structure of the poem

Answer 3

the poem is a series of NATURAL METAPHORS which reveal the speaker’s feelings about the way that grief fades away GRADUALLY. the use of a SINGLE STANZA adds to the sense of GRADUAL CHANGE — there aren’t any stanza breaks to split the ideas up. however, the speaker’s TONE becomes more DECISIVE after line 13, which might reflect the way that she does COME TO TERMS with the fact that grief ends

Question 4

describe the language of time in the poem

Answer 4

the PASSING OF TIME is a recurring theme in the poem — the changing of seasons is associated with the DIFFERENT STAGES of grief. the fact that this association remains throughout the poem reflects the SLOW, almost UNNOTICEABLE, way that time EASES the speaker’s GRIEF

Question 5

describe the light imagery in the poem

Answer 5

images of NATURAL LIGHT are present throughout. they remind the reader that the natural cycle of day and night will CONTINUE FOREVER. this sense of INEVITABILITY could also be applied to other natural cycles, such as LIFE AND DEATH, and perhaps also to GRIEF AND ACCEPTANCE

Question 6

describe the contradictory images in the poem

Answer 6

the description of MORNING as ‘harrowing’ and the comparison between summer (which is usually seen as pleasant) and grief are surprising. this could suggest that grief is not entirely unpleasant, and that its end involves CONTRADICTORY EMOTIONS