Poetry of The Decade - The Lammas Hireling, To My Nine-Year-Old Self, A Minor Role Flashcards
(35 cards)
Poet of The Lammas Hireling
Ian Duhig
TLH - Structure?
Dramatic monologue which uses magical realism to mimic 16th century folklore Border Ballads (pre-Christian/Pagan).
TLH - ‘light heart and a heavy purse’
initially pleasant atmosohere (abundance), juxtaposition of light and weigh =t suggests something more sinister.
TLH - ‘yields’ ‘purse’ ‘cheap’ ‘knew when to shut up’
Semantic field of currency and sinister suggestion, intentions are kept ambiguous with a sense of secrecy that even the speaker hides the truth.
TLH - ‘disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife’
disturbed emphasised. plosive alliteration suggests aggression.
TLH - ‘hunted down her torn voice’ ‘stark naked’ ‘I knew him a warlock’
Speaker is threatening. Pronouns - androgyny and ambiguouty over their relationship (speaker and Hireling).
TLH - ‘pale form’ ‘dark lantern’
Oxymoronic - contributes to the sense of confusion and disorder.
TLH - ‘a cow with leather horns’ ‘muckle sorrow’
Dialectal terms hint at a sense of mystery and folklore.
TLH - ‘lovely head thinned’ ‘yellow witness’
Care and affection contrasts the brutality of language prior (‘blew small hour through his heart’)
TLH - ‘casting ball from half-crowns’
punishment in paranoia. Money is futile in how it becomes weaponry.
TLH - ‘an hour since my last confession’
not truthful in confessions, sense of confusion and ambiguity is extended.
Poet of To My Nine-Year-Old Self?
Helen Dunmore
TMNYOS - Structure?
Stanzas 2-4 longest, speaker gets lost in the memories of youth.
TMNYOS - ‘You must forgive me. Don’t look so surprised’
colloquial tone adresses the younger self so the poem impacts a wider audience. Modal verb and caesura emphasise how adulthood betrays our childhood selves.
TMNYOS - ‘rather run than walk, rather climb than run // rather leap from hight than anything.’
end stop signifies how we are cut off from our youth. Active verbs signify freedom in childhood, we were free and idealistic, always dreaming of more.
TMNYOS - ‘scars’ ‘careful of a bad back or a bruised foot’
SF of injury and destruction, we are worn down by time and faced without the ability to always do more
TMNYOS - ‘I shan’t cloud your morning’ with ‘perplexed’ and ‘tuppence’
Sophisticated language date the speaker as older, pathetic fallacy shows that time impedes on childhood joy.
TMNYOS - ‘we made a start, but something else came up’
youth is irresponsible in its freedom. Pronoun shows a nostalgic blend of past and present.
TMNYOS - ‘a den by the cesspit’
Juxtaposes childhood with adult concern, retrospective narration imposes concern on the speaker’s memories.
TMNYOS - ‘- a baby vole, or a bag of sherbet lemons -‘
Parenthesis - intrusion. Youth is an explosive disruption of future plans and responsibilities with summertime memories (lighthearted).
TMNYOS - ‘hide down scared lanes from men in cars after girl-children’
threats intrude upon childhood memories - freedom can never be regained.
TMNYOS - ‘- but no […] I have fears enough for both of us -‘
Parenthesis, a sombre interruption of the speaker, acceptance that freedom of youth is no longer.
TMNYOS - ‘peeling a ripe scab from your knee to taste it on your tongue’
ansolute innocence and curiosity. Ignorance of personal injury contrasts with the speaker’s earlier ‘bad back’
Poet of A Minor Role?
U. A. Fanthorpe
