poetry of the decade - examined in 2017/18

Question 1

what is the significance of the title Effects?

Answer 1

polysemic - belongings, or impact

Question 2

i held her hand = synechdoche

Answer 2

her hands show her demise, they prompt a flurry of thought

Question 3

from chopping, slicing, from the knives that lay in wait = asyndetic list

Answer 3

excessive work, shows pain from domestication

Question 4

knuckles reddened, rough from scrubbing hard

Answer 4

physical demise for fulfilling obligations, mum as strong and stoic

Question 5

giving love the only way she knew

Answer 5

limited in how she expresses love, product of her time

Question 6

cheap cut of meat, in roast and stew

Answer 6

patronising, condescending

Question 7

she cooked and we ate

Answer 7

robotic

Question 8

faded snapshots, long forgotten things

Answer 8

symbolism, loss of identity

Question 9

scent-sprays, tortoise-shell combs = asyndetic list

Answer 9

old lady imagery, possessions help determining identity

Question 10

(scent-sprays, tortoise-shell combs, a snap or two) = parenthesis

Answer 10

shows crafted identity through belongings, contrasts later

Question 11

took a holiday ‘abroad’

Answer 11

seeing all foreign countries as the same, speaker is mocking

Question 12

only now that he was dead. = caesura

Answer 12

change in tone, finality of his death

Question 13

and i’d never known her not have that on = flurry of repeated negators

Answer 13

grammatically incorrect, confusing which is representative of the speaker’s feelings and grief

Question 14

watching soaps = structural parallel to later

Answer 14

low brow, zombified form of media, highlights speaker’s feelings of superiority

Question 15

familiar flavours = alliteration

Answer 15

reflects mum liking repetitiveness, creature of habit

Question 16

not all the weeks i didn’t come, and when she sat = caesura

Answer 16

unemotional speaker, lack of reflection

Question 17

funny foreign stuff

Answer 17

idea of older generation, traditional disconnect

Question 18

stared unseeing = oxymoron/juxtaposition

Answer 18

inability to focus suggests she is losing her faculties, deterioration

Question 19

heaved herself upright

Answer 19

strenuous labour, big effort, determination

Question 20

drink after drink, and gulped and stared = polysyndetic list

Answer 20

prolonged mundane existence, excessive, slowed down list reflects effort

Question 21

that. when he was alive, she wouldn’t touch,// that was her = anaphora

Answer 21

shows connection and strange dynamic of their relationship

Question 22

blinked unseeing = pattern of language relating to vision

Answer 22

highlights her demise as there is an emptiness behind her eyes

Question 23

grew up and learned contempt

Answer 23

reflective of their relationship as he speaks dismissively of his mistreatment of her

Question 23

with her name on it in smudged black ink

Answer 23

symbolic of impermanence, her identity is already eroding

Question 24

on the hand i held, a blotched and wrinkled hand = structural parallelism

Answer 24

cyclical which suggests the stream of consciousness of the speaker, as her hands evoke images from his childhood (dynamic)

Question 25

whose fingers couldn't clasp at mine any more

Answer 25

highlights her demise while suggesting perhaps her desperation to maintain some semblance of a connection

Question 26

fumble at my sleeve

Answer 26

solidifies her feelings of desperation

Question 27

the last words she had said were 'please don't leave' = direct speech

Answer 27

can infer feelings of guilt as he remembers it verbatim

Question 28

but of course i left

Answer 28

speaker is unsentimental and pragmatic, almost cold and distant

Question 29

little bag of her effects

Answer 29

identity and existence reduced to something small, also her death is implied, not explicitly said perhaps conveying he is still coming to terms with it

Question 30

why does the rhyme scheme become tight, previously being rather irregular toward the end of Effects?

Answer 30

reflective of the speaker's attempts to compartmentalise his thoughts and grief

Question 31

what is the importance of the extended use of synechdoche in Effects?

Answer 31

her hands represent her life , they are a catalyst for speaker's nostalgic thoughts

Question 32

what is the significance of the rhyme scheme of Effects oscillating between close and distant?

Answer 32

mirrors their relationship, with the pattern changing toward the end and becoming more frequent and dense reflecting the speaker's growing sense of reality and the finality of her death

Question 33

my father's in my fingers, but my mother's in my palms = syntactic parallelism

Answer 33

shows balance between the two, repetition conveying both biological and emotional connection

Question 34

i lift them up and look at them with pleasure

Answer 34

speaker feels sense of how/wonder that she is a living document of a love shared

Question 35

i know my parents made me by my hands. = declarative and end-stop

Answer 35

reflect speaker's definitive surety of the bond

Question 36

they may have been repelled to separate lands

Answer 36

forceful nature of the divide is definitive, serves to emphasise the permanence of the speaker's connection linking them

Question 37

repelled to separate lands,// to separate hemispheres = repetition

Answer 37

on separate lines emphasises distance

Question 38

who quarry for their image by a river = metaphor

Answer 38

constantly moving so reflects a difficult task, almost an impossibility to restore relationship

Question 39

i shape a chapel where a steeple stands = childhood finger game

Answer 39

connects their marriage to something innocent, joyful, almost praiseworthy - clinging onto nostalgia for a time when parents were more in love

Question 40

my body is their marriage register = metaphor

Answer 40

suggests permanence, speaker binds them together in a more powerful way

Question 41

take up the skin's demands = personification

Answer 41

conveys the undeniable drive of the human body

Question 42

if you bequeath your palms

Answer 42

poem moves from being about her parents to about her union with a partner

Question 43

we know our parents made us by our hands

Answer 43

refrain parallel

Question 44

what is the significance of the title To My Nine-Year-Old Self?

Answer 44

dissects 'myself' reflecting the different iterations we have

Question 44

what is the villanelle structure of Genetics?

Answer 44

alternate lines that tie around each other, reflects structure of DNA, circular form forms a ring, echoing imagery of the poem

Question 45

you must forgive me. = caesura, second person pronoun

Answer 45

separation established by pronouns and the old-fashioned, formal language that is indicative of the speaker's maturity

Question 45

don't look so surprised,// perplexed, and eager to be gone

Answer 45

discomfort of having to face older version

Question 46

balancing on your hands or on the tightrope

Answer 46

suggests precariousness

Question 47

rather run than walk, rather climb than run//rather leap = anaphoric repetition

Answer 47

emphatic of the advantage, suggests progress and the desire to overreach boundaries of what's permitted for liberating freedom

Question 47

i have spoiled this body we once shared = separation of pronouns

Answer 47

change as irrevocable, transient nature of ageing

Question 48

careful of a bad back or a bruised foot

Answer 48

innocuous, minimal injury yet still largely restricting

Question 48

we'd jump straight out of the ground floor window

Answer 48

symbolism of escapism and freedom

Question 49

into the summer morning

Answer 49

full of bloom and life, start of the day is symbolic of new opportunities

Question 50

that dream we had no doubt it's as fresh in your mind = past tense

Answer 50

speaker reminisces while younger self is optimistic, indicative of innocence and freedom

Question 51

as the white paper to write it on = simile

Answer 51

blank slate

Question 52

a baby vole, or a bag of sherbert lemons

Answer 52

natural imager/ connotations to childhood nostalgia evoke ideas of freshness and vibrancy

Question 53

created an ice-lolly factory, or a wasp trap = caesura

Answer 53

reflects distraction, innocuous things that are interesting novelties for a child

Question 54

but the truth is we have nothing in common = ironic

Answer 54

it is the same person so reinforces the change in identity that comes with ageing

Question 55

time to hide down scared lanes//from men in cars = personification

Answer 55

predatorial dangers around her that she is too young to fully understand the gravity of

Question 56

that tree//long buried in house

Answer 56

urbanisation of nature, implies restriction of freedom

Question 57

i shan't cloud your morning

Answer 57

structurally compares to the summer morning

Question 58

i leave you = separated pronouns

Answer 58

suggests the 2 realities of speaker's iterations cannot coexist as time cuts us off from our younger selves

Question 59

i leave you in an ecstasy of concentration slowly peeling a ripe scab

Answer 59

image of absorption in the world of the body and sensation which suggests that even if this imagined dialogue could take place, the child would not be able to understand/engage

Question 60

ripe scab

Answer 60

beginning of the aforementioned scars

Question 61

what is significant about the younger self's depiction in To My Nine-Year-Old Self?

Answer 61

does not speak, but her physical presence makes the most vivid impression on the reader