Meeting Point Flashcards
(25 cards)
When was poem written?
- Early 1930’s
Context on MacNeice
- Born in Belfast
- Coloquial poetry (combines humour/ tragedy.)
Signifiance of title.
- Referring to moment couple first met when they became “two people with one pulse.”
- Through all hastle in world, pair managing to isolate themselves and “meet.”
Signifiance of repetition of first and last line of each stanza.
- No matter what happens around them, their love/ unity remains constant.
- Makes reader feel as though they are stuck in time loop, mirrors pairs’ disconnection with time.
- Transcendent love
Signifiance of refrain “time was away”
- Shows the intensity of connection the pair had when they met, making them feel like time stopped.
Pastoral imagery used throughout poem.
- “stream’s music.” Romantic outlook on life.
- “tropic trees.” Vibrancy of their past love.
- “flower.”
Examples of the couple seeming to POSESS the nature around them.
- “they had forests.”
“desert was their own.” - Endless posibilities when the pair are together.
Signifiance of “someone stopping the moving stairs”, link in poem?
- Metaphor for progression.
- Symbol of world moving forward and the pair stopping in time.
- “They were neither up nor down”/ at the perfect place when together.
Form of poem.
- Like song, the beauty of their love.
- Consistent rhyme scheme (like song) mirrors everlasting memory of when the pair met.
How does the relationship between the couple seem to shift as poem progresses?
- “The bell silent in the air.”
- Sadder imlication, quiet descended between the pair.
- “miles of sand”: emotional distance.
Signifiance of onomatopeia.
- “clang and clang.”
- Narrator vividly replaying the memory of meeting his lover in his head.
Signifiance of shifts of location throughout poem.
- “forests.”
- “desert.”
- Their love transcends time and space.
Numbers “two” and “one”, use in poem?
- Beginning: “two glasses, two chairs, one pulse.”
- End: “one glow” used to describe partner, she has now become separate to him due to relationship ending.
MacNeice message?
- The powerful connection caused by past love.
- Nature enhancing romantic connection.
Industrial imagery used throughout
- “cups and plates.”
- “bell”
- “Not caring if the markets crash.” Wall Street Crash 1929?
- Juxtaposition between metallic/ Industrial imagery and the natural, heaven-like serentity the man felt with this woman.
Where does poet personify time? Signifiance?
- “the clock forgot them.”
- Time usually having power over others but not them.
Signifiance of “radio waltz, like water from a rock.”
- Couple struggling to speak/ communicate with “radio.”
- Juxtaposition between “rock” (symbol for difficult life) and “water” (flowing love.)
What could “her fingers flicked away ash” be suggestive of?
- Flicking away a cigarette- her bordemn in relationship.
- Metaphorical act of dismissal, brushing away past memory of when they met.
- The “ash” forms tropic trees, God-like resurrection when together
What movement of poetry is MacNeice’s work associated with?
- Modernism: exploring themes around industrialisation/ urbanisation.
- Reverting back to natural world here to show what the beauty of nature can do to human connection, can enhance it!
Religious imagery towards end.
- “Good or whatever means Good.”
- Modernism: relateable, not all religious.
- “verify body’s peace”: spiritual love becoming physical manifestation.
How can it be inferred that the relationship has ended from the last stanza?
- “she WAS here”: has been lost?
- Cyclical structure: poem ends how it starts, despite the fact she has gone - the feeling he had with her transcends this fact.
Idea of gratitude.
- Speaker thanking higher power for allowing time to stop.
- “Somebody”/ “God.”
Signifiance of “- “ in 3rd stanza.
- Symbolic of difficulty they are facing in relationship, the blank silence making it difficult to communicate? Or just serene?
Juxtaposition in time creating by MacNeice
- Simultaneously stopping and moving.
- “Bell was silent.”
- “stream’s music didn’t stop.”
