Poetry Anthology - As Imperceptibly as Grief

Question 1

Key themes

Answer 1

Time passing
Loss
Pain
Season
Complexity of emotion

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

Enjambement - mirrors subtle, continuous nature of grief and time passing
Single stanza - suggests grief is continuous

Question 3

Key quotes (6) and title

Answer 3

Title
‘Summer lapsed away’
‘Twilight long begun’
‘Dusk drew earlier in’
‘Harrowing grace’
‘Our summer made her light escape’
‘Into the beautiful’

Question 4

Analyse the title

Answer 4

Suggests grief is temporary, subtle and creeps up on us

Question 5

Analyse ‘summer lapsed away’

Answer 5

Season is ending
Links with time moving on

Question 6

Analyse ‘twilight long begun’

Answer 6

Been in a state of grief for a long time - twilight is usually quiet
Keeps her up at night

Question 7

Analyse ‘dusk drew earlier in’

Answer 7

Connotations of dying light and endings
Suggests darkness overtakes happiness

Question 8

Analyse ‘harrowing grace’

Answer 8

Oxymoron
‘Harrowing’ suggests pain, whilst ‘grace’ implies acceptance
Creates a tension between suffering and serenity
Reflecting how summer, and metaphorically the fading of life, can be both peaceful and painful

Question 9

Analyse ‘our summer made her light escape’

Answer 9

The use of ‘our’ includes the reader, suggesting that pain is universal
‘Escape’ infers that the subject was once trapped and being stopped from leaving - she wanted to hold onto summer but also wanted to hold onto grief
‘Her’ - it is an extended metaphor for grief, grief will escape like summer did

Question 10

Analyse ‘into the beautiful’

Answer 10

Summer escapes ‘into the beautiful’ suggesting that the end of grief is ultimately positive

Question 11

Context

Answer 11

Grew up next to a graveyard - surrounded by death
Her family died when she was young
She was strongly religious