poem at thirty nine Flashcards
(20 cards)
poem at thirty nine
alice is thirty nine, she’s an adult and creates a nostalgic tone as she’s looking back to memories
‘how i miss’ ‘i wish’
regretful tone established, theme of loss (father has died)
‘i’ ‘my’
continual use of personal pronouns, creates an intimate poem as it is her personal experience
STRUCTURE ENJAMBMENT
poem is a chain of thought enjambment also mirrors her struggle to express herself (emotional topic) so it’s difficult for her to talk through these memories
‘ i wish he had not been so tired’ ‘deposit slips’ ‘checks’ ‘bits of paper’ ‘saving accounts’
semantic field of finance suggests that money was a burden, and hardship ‘tired’ implies that he had to work a lot for little money
‘he taught me how’ ‘to escape the life he knew’
he’s caring towards her as he wants to teach her how to handle money and the importance of it so that she can ‘escape the life he knew’
‘escape’ emphasises he wants more for his daughter - adds to the nostalgia and regret as she’s missing him
‘this is the form’’the way it is done’
these are simple sentences and languages which mimics how a father would speak to a child especially with a topic about finance
‘savings accounts’
she clearly respects her fathers advice as by the time she’s in high school she already has a savings account - he’s already had a positive influence on her
‘truth didn’t always mean a beating’…’many of my truths must have grieved him before the end’
indicates the dad values truth and the fact that alice walker admits her truths must have grieved him suggest that even though there was conflict on their relationship they did have an honest relationship.
even though he beat her and her truths grieved him, they still had a very close relationship (hence why she’s writing this poem and there is a regretful tone)
use of euphemism ‘the end’ (before he died) suggests that it’s difficult for her to say that he’s truly dead (difficult to come to terms)
‘the truth’ ‘my truth’
the and my are determiners, their truths are different. ‘my’ is possessive quality This suggests that he valued truth above all else, however The phrase “my truths” highlights the speaker’s growing sense of self and her ability to form her own beliefs and values
how i miss my father!
stanza juxtaposes violence and harshness of previous stanza
repetition of how i miss my father except with a “!” to emphasise how much she misses him.
Tone changes to celebratory
‘like a person dancing in a yoga meditation ‘
simile and oxymoron, dancing - requires lots of energy and movement contrasted to yoga -very still and balanced
emphasises how beautiful to watch, must have been filled with energy and passion but really focused (took his cooking seriously)
‘craved..share’ emphasis generosity of father as he loved sharing good things (positive image)
“look” “cook”
assonance represents similarities between her and her father
rest of stanza highlights similarities
‘look’ and cook’
assonance implies the similarities the two had between them
the rest of the stanza also emphasises their similarities
‘seasoning none of mt life the same way twice’
metaphor implies that she has escaped the life her dad wanted to
father life must have been mundane, ‘seasoning’ suggests her life is really exciting and she has escaped her fathers way of living.
she’s also full of enthusiasm the same way her father was when he cooked and he’s also happy to feed others
‘happy to feed whoever strays my way’
possibly linking to the work she’s done as an activist and how she always sought to help most vulnerable in society.
‘would’ve grown to admire’
regret suggest he may not have admired her at some point maybe because he didn’t get to see all of her achievements
admire sounds more detached however it also sounds like pride.
(ambivalent verb) why didn’t he love the woman she became?
‘cooking writing chopping wood’, ‘staring into fire’
asyndectic listing emphasises her independence and variety in her life
staring into fire symbolises that her father still lives on. the spark that he had still lives on through her
structure
free verse,
no rhyme scheme
stanzas unequal-reflects chain of though (memories sparking another memory, sporadic)
Initially tone regretful then changed to celebratory -celebrating how good of a cook he was and also celebrating the woman she’s become
themes
childhood
loss
regret
nostalgia
memories
familial love
