Cozy Apologia Flashcards
‘I could pick anything and think of you - this Lamps, the wind-still rain, and glossy blue/ my pen exudes’
- ‘pick anything and think of you’ —> address —> ‘you’ —> centralises her husband within the poem showing her attachment to him.
- ‘Anything’ —> diectic noun —> shows the extent of her attachment towards him since it highlights how prominent he is in her life since she is reminded of him through various different items.
- ‘lamp, wind-still rain, the glossy blue’ —> asyndetic listing of mundane items —> rejects stereotypical imagery of love —> places focus on simplicity in their relationship.
- ‘you’ and ‘blue’ —> rhyming couplet (heroic couplets) —> creates a sense of coherency and compatibility between the couple in the poem structure.
‘Any hero any cause or age, and sure as shooting arrows to the heart, astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart’
- ‘hero any cause or age’ —> then enters her thoughts describing an idealistic view of love. The noun ‘hero’ —> can refer to Fred —> portraying him in a positive light and heroic.
- ‘shooting arrows to the heart’ —> refers to cliche ideas of love creating imagery of Cupid and transitional love. This occurring in her thoughts and dreams can illustrate her want for a stereotypical over-display of love.
- ‘dappled mare, legs braced as far apart’ —> ‘mare’ —> contributes to imagery of cliche love. —> ‘legs braced’ —> she refers to a masculine stance showing how in the world of fantasy she wants traditional male bravado and ideas of love.
‘You’ll be, with furrowed brow and chain mail glinting, to set me free: one eye smiling, the other firm upon the enemy’
‘Furrowed brow and chain mail glinting’ —> adjective ‘furrowed’ —> illustrates a determination showing how she craves a determined and intrepid character from fred in his fantasies. Also, ‘chain mail glinting’ -> contributes to the lexical field of fantasy and traditional love by portraying fred as a hero and warrior.
- ‘set me free’ —> adheres to traditional ideas of love with her portrayed as needing help from him. Portrays herself as vulnerable. —> metaphorically —> can portray Fred as a liberating and providing her with a sense of joy and freedom in her life.
- ‘one eye smiling: the other firm upon the enemy’ —> adjective ‘firm’ —> portrays a sense of stoicism whilst ‘smiling’ shows a relaxed and joyful nature. This creates juxtaposition in Fred’s description on her fantasies. This can highlight how unrealistic it is and Dove’s understanding that fantasies are unrealistic.
‘Disks and faxes, a do-it-now-and-take-no-risks event. Today a hurricane is nudging up the coast, oddly male: Big Bad Floyd’
- ‘disks and faxes, a do-it-now-and-take-no-risks’ —> refers to the technocentric world and attachment to new technology. This acts as a Volta transitioning from stereotypical cliche love to the contrasts of the modern era. Context of writing as a contemporary poet.
- ‘take-no-risks’ —> uses this phrase to criticise the modern era and the predictability of it. This can show her want for cliche love in its over-display of affection.
- ‘Big Bad Floyd’ —> context of hurricane at time of writing. Also, the capitalisation of ‘big’ and ‘bad’ alongside the use of plosive sounds creates harshness surrounded with the ‘male’ name of Floyd. This portrays men as being harsh and violent.
- ‘oddly male’ —> adverb ‘oddly’ —> portrays male dominance and violence as unusually to her. Portrays Fred as comforting and caring as opposed to violent.
‘Awkward reminisces of teenage crushes on worthless boys whose only talent was to kiss you senseless. They all had sissy names’
- ‘worthless’ and ‘awkward’ —> adjectives —> portray her dislike of past experiences with love whilst ‘worthless’ —> implies that they lack value and substance. This can also show her hurt and unpleasantness from past experiences.
- reinforced by ‘sissy’ —> adjective portrays them as feminine, weak and cowardly.
- ‘talent was to kiss you senseless’ —> portrays the sensual experiences within her past and her immaturity when young. This portrays a dislike for only fixation on the sensual and artificial side of love. This perhaps is a comparison indicating that her current relationship is more multi-dimensional and spiritual.
‘We’re as thin as licorice and as chewy, sweet with a dark and hollow Center.’
- similie to a ‘licorice’ —> can imply that the boys were sweet like the Lorice but the sweetness was short-lived similar to the burst of quick energy that sweets provide
- ‘thin’ and ‘hollow’ —> portrays the love as being shallow with a lack of substance. In this, she criticises her past relationships further showing a desire for a satisfying emotionally intelligent person.
- ‘dark’ —> creates sinister problems undertones —> portrays the men as initially sweet but unsatisfactory and causing pain through the semiotic colour.
‘We’re content but fall short of the Divine. Still it’s embarrassing, this happiness - who’s satisfied simply’
- ‘we’re content’ —> adjective —> portrays a sense of mere satisfaction and pleasure but no extreme joy and happiness from the relationship. Subverts traditional views that love should be idealistic and completely joyful.
- ‘fall short of the Divine’ —> ‘fall short’ —> colloquial term can show that she is a contemporary poet. However this mainly draws attention to the failures and lack of perfection portraying their relationship as flawed and not ‘divine’ —> where this evokes celestial imagery portraying perfection.
- ‘embarrassing, this happiness - who’s satisfied simply’ —> term ‘embarrassing’ —> portrays her sense of shame that she finds comfort in a flawed relationship. This portrays her understanding that her relationship is not traditional affectionate however in ‘satisfied’ —> shows how she finds pleasure in the simplicity of her relationship. Portrays her satisfaction with basic and mundane love. Sense of acceptance.
‘When has the ordinary ever been news? And Yet because nothing else will do to keep me from melancholy (call it blues) I fill this stolen time with you’
- ‘when has the ordinary ever been news’ —> rhetorical question —> highlights the importance of normal and standardised relationships portraying her want to underscore that the ‘ordinary’ and mundane is still acceptable and positive.
- ‘keep me from melancholy’ —> portrays Fred as a cure or solution for sorrow portraying him as purposeful and comforting.
- assonance in ‘blue’ and ‘you’ and return of rhyme structure —> shows her acceptance of a mundane love and how it comforts and soothes her. Comes to terms with it.
