Poetry: Partition

Question 1

Use of auditory imagery by her mother to show separation and fear

Answer 1

“She could hear the cries of the people”
This is repeated again at the end of the first part of the poem “listening to the cries of the people”
L/S:
- cries has connotations of distress
- circular structure

Question 2

Shows how she was overwhelmed by the partition

Answer 2

“She felt is was endless -their noise-“
L/S:
- endless shows she was overwhelmed

Question 3

Shows her mothers fear through not doing anything

Answer 3

“She stood in her garden”
L/S:
- repetition of stood in the garden
- stood shows she in active during the chaos, implying she was too scared to move

Question 4

Unfamiliar sounds show how she overwhelmed and confused

Answer 4

“A new sound added to the city”
“Even the birds sounded different”
L/S:
- ‘new’ shows she was so accustomed to her city now it has been corrupted
- bird is very ordinary and peaceful, showing the extent to which peace has been corrupted

Question 5

Nature being affected by the partition

Answer 5

“Shadows cast by the neem trees
Brought no consolidation”
L/S:
- shows that the wider world is being affected by the partition

Question 6

Repetition towards the end to show the endlessness of the partition

Answer 6

“And each day she wished”
“And each day passed”
“But how I wished I had
Gone with my aunt”
L/S:
- repetition of ‘each day’ shows how this is becoming overwhelming for her mother
- ‘wished’ repetition shows she felt regret for not going with her aunt, which is an overarching feeling in the poem

Question 7

Dashes and staggered lines

Answer 7

Creates pauses showing the narrator is struggling to communicate her emotions as it was a painful time for her mother