letters from yorkshire

Question 1

CONTEXT

Answer 1

• lived in multiple places including Yorkshire thoruhgout her life
• disparity between urban and rural life is relfected in the poem
• many of her poems contain the theme of communication which may be the result of Dooley’s connections around the country

Question 2

CONTEXT - who is this poem for

Answer 2

• AMBIGUOS
• unsure wether family or relationship
• it is thought that it is about her missing her father but other’s think it is about a friend - it is unknown

Question 3

STRUCTURE - how many lines in each stanza, what does this convey

Answer 3

• 3 (tercet)
• imbalance in relationship

Question 4

STRUCTURE - how does the poet move from individual to combined narrative of writing

Answer 4

• at start the pronouns are “me” “his”
• to direct address pronoun “you”
• to use of “our” in final stanza

Question 5

STRUCTURE - what is the effect of changing the use of pronouns as the poem progresses

Answer 5

sense of them coming together, tone change as they are no longer separate ((in pronouns))

Question 6

STRUCTURE - what is teh effect of the caesura in “me, his”

Answer 6

• separates pronouns
  -> reader pauses
  -» this stop reflects the distance between the two in relationship
  -> tells us things aren’t flowing as they should
  -» problems in rel

Question 7

STRUCTURE - where is the enjambenet and what does this show us

Answer 7

• “seeing the seasons / / turning” (turning is on a whole new stanza)
  -> directly reflects the change in season from hange in stanza
  -> as it is over stanzas, this show a broken and fractured structure that could relfect rel at this point

Question 8

LANGUAGE - where is there temporal deixis

Answer 8

the first few words
- “in february”

Question 9

LANGUAGE - what does the temporal deixis represent

Answer 9

• strength of rel and familiarity due to the colloquial tone created

Question 10

LANGUAGE - what is the significance of “february”

Answer 10

• setting
• winter and spring is coming
• symbolic of seasons
• links to the “lapwings return(ing)”
  -> similarly shows hope

Question 11

LANGUAGE - “the first lapwings return”

Answer 11

• metaphor for hope of returning to Yorkshire or meeting with man again

Question 12

LANGUAGE - “his knuckles singing”

Answer 12

• personification
• shows the joy the man feels about writing to woman
• positive image reflecting positive side of the relationship that undermine/challenge certain structural features
  -> showing there is positive and negative feelings to the relationship

Question 13

LANGUAGE - “his knuckles singing as they reddened in the warmth” - reddened

Answer 13

• colour imagery
  -> implies warmth
  -> usually this colour might imply angry connotations
  -» however here this is subverted
  -»> implying the characters take something negative and makes it positive

Question 14

LANGUAGE - “you out there in the cold seeing the seasons turning”

Answer 14

• “you out there in the cold” is monosyllabic which juxtaposes the polysyllabic alliteration in “seeing the seasons”
  -> could imply a disconnect between speaker and the person they are writing to

Question 15

LANGUAGE - “heartful of headlines feeding words onto a blank screen”

Answer 15

• “heartful of headlines” is alliteration and emphaises that although the speaker loves the other character she also loves her separate life
• “feeding” - verb - dull
• “blank” - adjective
  -> contrasts the description of mans knuckles “singing” and positive natural imagery
  -» speaker may feel negative about own life

Question 16

LANGUAGE - “pouring air and light into an envelope”

Answer 16

• metpahor
  -> postive imagery
  -» the effect of the mans words are nourishing and enriching to speaker
  -»> implies speaker may feel trapped in her urban life
• “light” - positive adjective

Question 17

LANGUAGE - “our souls tap out messages across the icy miles”

Answer 17

• last line of poem is a metaphor
  ->shows how they are not letting themsleves become disconnected from each other
• “icy” penultimate word = speaker dislikes the distance, sparks hope of rekindling relationship

Question 18

MEANING

Answer 18

• rel is problamatic due to distance, under strain, positivity too though

Question 19

quotes

Answer 19

• me, you , his, our
• “seeing the seasons / / turning”
• “in february”
• “the first lapwings return”
• “his knuckles singing”
• “his knuckles singing as they reddened in the warmth”
• “you out there in the cold seeing the seasons turning”
• “heartful of headlines feeding words onto a blank screen”
• “pouring air and light into an envelope”
• “our souls tap out messages across the icy miles”