I REMEMBER I REMEMBER Flashcards
(16 cards)
cold new year
pathetic fallacy reflects the unpleasant and mundane atmosphere of his hometown - appears unwelcoming + speaker’s unfamiliarity with it
‘why coventry!’ I exclaimed ‘I was born here.’
speaker’s initial excitement and exclamatory reflects his surprise in seeing his hometown- hasn’t visited in a while + detachment
significance reduced by the fact it’s just known as his birthplace
and squinned for a sign
unfamiliarity with location reflects his role as outsider
however dialectal language reflects how his upbringing is still part of his identity
That this was the town that had been ‘mine’
use of apostrophes reflects the speaker’s dismissal of the idea of his belonging to coventry making up his identity - distances from cliche idea
no identification
so long, but I found that I wasn’t even clear/which side was which
enj emph lack of significance and unfamiliarity with place - initial confusion reflects him as an outsider + forgotten
a whistle went: things moved
train used as a metaphor for time and movement - reflecrs speaker as being affected by time = moved on from his birthplace
‘where you “have your roots?”’/ no only where my childhood was unspent
direct speech reflects mocking of cliched phrases/social ideas of childhood significance to his identity which speaker rejects with the prefix - suggests the wasted and underwhelming reality of his childhood
I did not invent blinding theologoes of flowers and fruits/ and wasn’t spoken to by an old hat
cliched and excessive images associated with childhood memories (elder influencing him/discoveries and experiences which appear almost storylike
speaker compares his own childhood as being uneventful and boring - absent of such a thrilling life
and here we have that splendid family/ I never ran to when I was depressed
talks about an imaginary idealised image of a family - social ideals emph by enj - that the speaker didn’t have + separated from - normal reality
rejects ideas of family being impactful on childhood
the boys all biceps and the girls all chest/ their comic ford, their farm where I could be ‘really myself’
american culture influence on cliched stereotypes in childhood which society believes makes up identity + brings significance
what does the repeated use of negators suggest
bitter and cynical tone from speaker emph from separation and the absence of such dramaticised ideals and experiences in his own childhood - makes it appear insignificant + uneventful
lacks nostalgia for such exaggerated memories + dramatic
where I never trembling sat/ Determined to go through with it; where she lay back and ‘all became a burning mist’
cliched image of sex the speaker separates himself from - fantastical ideal that remains imaginary and made to seem appealing + metaphor reflects an overwhelming pleasure and sensation
sarcastic tone
and, in those offices, my doggerel was not set up in blunt ten point nor read/by a distinguished cousin of a mayor
speaker believes his own childhood was overshadowed and appeared insignificant- didn’t get the recognition for the skills that actually mattered to him
reflects the insignificance of childhood in general since the skills in poetry which are important to his identity were not made from childhood
‘oh well I suppose it’s not the place’s fault’/ ‘Nothing like something happens anywhere’
speaker’s shift in tone in himself and attitude- realises the idea of an insignificant childhood is universal + it is mundane everywhere emph by single line = resolving idea
more logical and neutral tone jxtp prev anger and neg
idea of social deception which makes speaker believe in the significance of childhood which makes his own appear mundane - they too are deceived and their ideals of childhood are also mundane as they are conforming to such allusions
AO3 IR IR
thomas hood’s poem IRIR on childhood nostalgia + use of prefix -un to show absences
analyse structure
traditional rhyme reflects the insignificance of childhood
OR
speaker’s struggle to align his own childhood with idealised cliches
