Revision/annotation notes

Ideas: Change in perspective from child to adult, reminiscing and now understanding/appreciating mother
and seeing childhood as a time of riches not just scarcity, a time to be cherished. Regret/guilt. Sense of
loss – missing sisters, mother but also the “lovely sin” of a full bath - now there is plenty of water and no
financial constraint, luxury seems an empty pleasure. Poem is a testament to mother’s “quiet” struggle –
presumably a single parent.

Poem celebrates aspects of childhood shared with sisters. Poem questions notion of “plenty”.
Tone: reminiscent, knowing, regret/guilt/shame mixed with warmth and appreciation, yearning, tenderness,
reverence, admiration tinged with sadness ….

Title “Plenty” u Then - Drought of water and material wealth but plenty of fun and love (stanzas 1-6) v Now -
Plenty of water/luxury but dearth of joy and intimacy (7 & 8).

When I was young and there were five of
us,
all running riot to my mother’s quiet
despair,
our old enamel tub, age-stained and
pocked
upon its griffin claws, was never full.
Such plenty was too dear in our expanse of
drought
where dams leaked dry and windmills
stalled.
Like Mommy’s smile. Her lips stretched
back
and anchored down, in anger at some fault
– clasp
of mine, I thought – not knowing then
it was a clasp to keep us all from chaos.
She saw it always, snapping locks and
straps,
the spilling: sums and worries, shopping
lists
for aspirin, porridge, petrol, bread.
Even the toilet paper counted,
and each month was weeks too long.
Her mouth a lid clamped hard on this.
Section 1: Stanzas 1- 4: Introduction to childhood and family
life: drought, poverty and mother’s struggle to sustain the family.
contrast sense fun from the alliteration and hyperbole of running
riot with static hopelessness of “quiet despair” – this contrast
emphasised by rhyme of opposite words “riot”/”quiet”)
· “Us”, “our” “ all” = togetherness
· Drought = scarcity of water & scarcity of mother’s smiles
· “stretched”= tension, force , the word itself stretches
· diction “too dear” would have been the mothers short
reason given to the children – contrasts with the poet’s adult verdict
“expanse of drought”
dams and windmills – adult constructions that go wrong
inexplicably to child. Also inexplicable is the smile. Metaphor of a
lots of words relating to fastenings/security/spiling. These
emphasise the mother’s struggle. Sibilance and assonance (saw
and always, snapping and straps,sums and worries) tying the
words together into endless worries about security for her family
· Enjambment between stanzas 2 & 3 – moment of
reflection as cause of mother’s “lips stretched back” is re-
evaluation and understood – not anger at daughter but
“clasp to keep us all from chaos”
· Enjambment between stanzas 3 & 4 – emphasises
catalogue of necessities which can barely be afforded -
take a deep breath before listing everything
· “her mouth a lid clamped hard on this” – metaphor - she
kept her anxieties to herself, sparing and protecting her
children and giving them freedom.
“Like Mommy’s Smile. Her lips stretched” The caesura
following the three word sentence with no verb.
Emphasises how important this smile is – as soon as it is
mentioned it has to be further explained.
'each month was weeks too long' is oxymoron saying it this
way the poet makes us work out for ourselves what she
means. ideas you need to work out for yourself are usually
ideas you will understand better.
Plenty? Seems to be a time only of shortages and drought
We thought her mean. Skipped chores,
swiped biscuits – best of all
when she was out of earshot
stole another precious inch
up to our chests, such lovely sin,
lolling luxuriant in secret warmth
disgorged from fat brass taps,
our old compliant co-conspirators.
Now bubbles lap my chin. I am a sybarite.
The shower’s a hot cascade
and water’s plentiful, to excess, almost,
here.
I leave the heating on .
And miss my scattered sisters,
all those bathroom squabbles and, at last,
my mother’s smile, loosed from the bonds
of lean, dry times and our long childhood.
Section 2: Stanzas 5 & 6: Children’s attitude and behaviour: they
thought their mother mean and enjoyed secret subversive acts
against her, especially stealing extra bath water.
· First sentence, brevity of syntax - child’s language and
verdict
· 2nd long sentence straddling 2 stanzas = listing
pleasures of casual disobedience (informal
“skipped”/”swiped”) and the superlative (“best”) luxury of
real sin (formal “stole”) of extra bathwater. The
enjambment emphasises that the “Precious inch” was the
most important
· Sounds alliteration, such lovely sin, Lolling luxuriant,
our old, compliant co-onspiritors assonance Fat brass
taps (brass with a northern short a) , such lovely
together these give a richly mellifluous language, appropriate for
luxury and pleasure.
· diction - “precious inch” = metaphor for water – a
magical, precious commodity to have added the word
“water” would have been mundane
Plenty? Plenty of pleasure despite drought
Section 3: Stanzas 7 & 8: Now the poet is an adult and living in
comparative luxury but despite the material comfort there is a sense
of loss and emptiness.
· Diction of luxury but brevity of sentences and absence of
melodious sounds (compared to sounds in previous stanza
describing secret, stolen luxury) indicate that now water can
be taken for granted the pleasure seems less.
· Compare ordinary “water” here to “precious inch” in
previous stanza
the consonance of “miss my scattered sisters,
all those bathroom squabbles” ties the words together to
create a complete picture
Plenty? “Now”& “here” water is plentiful and luxury taken for granted
– but such plenty seems an “excess” that can’t be enjoyed fully –
despite abundance there is a lack, a yearning. “Lean, dry times”, of
childhood were paradoxically full and rich.
Is poem nostalgic? Childhood might have been fun for the kids but it
wasn’t for the mother.
Questions

Stanzas 1 - 4

1) “running riot to my mother’s quiet despair” Comment on the ways in which the poet
uses language here (including sounds and grammatical features) to convey the a
contrast between the lives of the children and that of their mother.

2) What role does the bath tub seem to play in the family? Support your answer with
reference to the language used to describe the tub.

3) What is the significance of “too dear”?

4) What does “windmills stalled” mean and how does the poet extend the idea by making
the stanza which has been running freely up to this point, stall. Why might the poet
want to stall the stanza here?

5) What are the connotations of “stretched”, used to describe the mother’s “smile”?

6) What is it that needs to be “anchored down”?

7) By using the phrase “not knowing then” what does Dixon imply?

8) How does the poet use diction, grammar and sentence structure to convey the
mother’s anxieties about chaos and her inability to manage and control their lives.

9) Why is the word “always” important and how can it be linked to “snapping” and
“spilling”?

10) Comment on the significance of the enjambment used in this section of the poem.

11) This section of the poem ends with the single sentence line, “Her mouth a lid
clamped hard on this.” Comment on the effects and significance of the
metaphor used.

Stanzas 5 & 6

12) Identify the caesura in this section and explain its significance. What is the tone of the
poem at this point?

13) Comment on the significance of the informal colloquialisms, “skipped” and “swiped”,
compared to the more formal, “stole”, used to describe the children’s disobedience.

14) What is implied by the superlative, “best of all”?

 15) Why does Dixon avoid using the word “water” here and instead use “precious inch”?

16) How are sound features, such as alliteration, assonance and long vowel sounds, used
to convey the pleasures and luxury of extra bath water? Give examples from the poem
to support your points?

17) Comment on the significance of the oxymoron, “lovely sin”.

18) Comment on the significance of the poet’s choice of words to describe the bath taps
and the water running from them.

19) Why do you think Dixon uses such a long sentence, over two stanzas, to describe the
illicit full baths?

Stanzas 7 & 8

20) What do the words “now” and “here” indicate?

21) Stanza 7 uses words and phrases relating to luxury, “bubbles lap my chin”, “sybarite”,
“hot cascade”, “plentiful”, “excess”, “leave the heating on”, but despite all these
references to abundance and comfort, the pleasure seems empty compared to that
described in the previous stanza. Why is this and how does the poet use sounds and
sentence structure to convey the contrast?

22) The pronouns “we” and “us” are frequently used in the previous stanzas. What ideas
does the shift to the pronoun “I” in stanza 7 help to convey?

23) Describe the tone of stanzas 7 and 8 compared to previous stanzas?

24) What feelings and thoughts are conveyed in the final stanza?

Poem as a whole

25) The poem consists of 8 unrhymed 4 line stanzas. Line lengths and sentence lengths
vary and enjambment is often used to continue a sentence from one stanza to
another. Some lines are end-stopped and some other shorter sentences end mid line,
creating caesura. Why has Isobel Dixon used these structural devices? What is the
effect?

26) In your own words describe the qualities of the mother as a mother. Was she a good
mother? Why?

27) In your own words describe what seems enjoyable about the childhood experience
presented in the poem.

28) Suggest ways in which each of the following poems explore similar ideas to Plenty:
Before the Sun, Old Familiar Faces, Rising Five, Little Boy Crying, Carpet Weavers,
Morocco and Farmhand. Do you think there are any other interesting links, in terms of
ideas or techniques, to be made to other poems in the collection?