To every fuckhead who is stealing my notes and revising from them (not that I mind), you

should always write down the original interpretation as you get loads more marks for them.
Also, I’ve repeated things that may go in different sections as that’s the way my dumb mind
works. Feel free to add your own shit if you don’t like what I’ve thought of, but as long as you
know a fair bit about the notes I’ve made u should be pretty much cool.
I’ve got most of the poems here, apart from “At a potato digging” as we
haven’t covered it yet, but I’ve only got three stories. If you want me to
send you the rest of the notes once I’ve finished making them, just ask
by text n I will. Other than that, appreciate the notes motherfuckers,
they took the pissssss to make, literally. And don’t sell them-
plagiarism, and of course ill be very cross with you.

Love you all, and good luck for the exam! Have faith in yourself and your ability; learn all
this and you’ll all pass with flying colours. xxxxx

A difficult Birth, Easter 1998

Language
• Feminine concern and independence
o “when the whitecoats come to the women...so I ease my fingers in”
- She speaks quite critically of the vets (generally male) who arrive with their
medical equipment and take over, thinking they know exactly what’s best
- She just gets on with it herself and it all ends up okay, proving they don’t know
what’s best
- May symbolise the women disciples who stayed with Jesus when he was being
crucified while the male disciples ran
- The “whitecoats” could also refer to the armour of the roman’s gleaming
• Links between the stories (Jesus’ crucifixion, the Irish peace deal, birth of an ewe-
main theme)
o “supper and bottle of wine”
- Refers to the last supper of Jesus and disciples
o “Good Friday, and the Irish peace deal close”
- May mean that on the religious day good things do happen
o “while they slog it out in Belfast, eight decades since Easter 1916, exhausted,
tamed by pain”
- Link of the birth with the peace process
- May suggest all of the people in Ireland are sheep and trying hard
- This was the Easter when the republican army started to campaign to be free of
England’s rule
o “Needles and forceps”
- Could be referring to the vet, weapons in war, or Jesus’ crucifixion
o “cradling that might have been a death”
- The lamb could have died, the good Friday agreement could have easily not
been accepted, Jesus could have not been resurrected
o “Tamed by pain”
- “ai” sound echoes her screams and how much pain she’s in
- Could mean the ewe is too tired to be wild
- Politicians are in a struggle to find a solution
- Jesus- exhausted from carrying the cross
o “the stone rolled away”
- The stone that sealed Jesus’ tomb rolled away after he was resurrected
- Struggle of the first lamb was great because there was a blockage but now it has
been removed
- May give hope that she will get pregnant again
 - Stone may refer to the stubbornness in the politicians minds and now that has
been removed and they have come to an understanding

Feelings and attitudes

There is a big mixture of feelings in the poem as all three of the events have different stages.
• Firstly, there was no hope
o “we thought her barren”
- They thought the sheep was infertile
- Thought Jesus was an imposter, not the son of God
- Thought peace would never come between Ireland and England
• Hope began, as something good happened
o “two hooves and a muzzle”
• Then there was anxiety that it wouldn’t last
o “the lamb won’t come”
- The lamb will not come but it is still a symbol of peace, which makes us think
that if it does there will be peace between England and Ireland
• Finally, the relief that it will
o “you find us peaceful”

Catrin
Structure
• Two free verse stanzas
• 1st- deals with birth of Catrin and her feeling, looking back over that period- “I can
remember you”- repetition gives the poem a reminiscent tone- a lot of enjambment-
signifies how the birth went on and on
• The gap in between makes us think about all the time that has passed and the changes
that may have occurred to the relationship
• 2nd- situation when Catrin is a teenager and the struggle that still remains
Language
• Title- simply tells us name of child- not mentioned again- maybe reflects universitality
of poem- could be about any mother/daughter relationship
• Confrontational language
- “Fierce confrontation...fought over...struggle...fighting you off”- this suggests that
even in a close mother/daughter relationship there is constantly a struggle, from
birth through to the teenage years. The child desperately wants to have her
freedom, and yet the mother’s love and protection for the daughter doesn’t allow
her to have it completely
• Loving language
- “I can remember you, child...rosy, defiant glare...trailing love”- this shows that
although there is conflict the mother and daughter have an intense, natural
bond. The fact that she describes her daughter as “rosy, defiant” shows that she
admires her daughter’s strength and beauty. This oxymoron emphasises the
difference between the mother and daughter. It also suggests the strength of
parents that even when a child will look upon them with a “defiant glare” they
still love them
- “Wild, tender circles”- this describes the contractions and suggests that although
the birth was painful, this is balanced by the love she has for her daughter. The
fact that she used circles suggests, again, that this is a never ending thing, from
painful to relaxed- the relationship will stay this way
• Confused/ contrasting feelings
- “Trailing love and conflict” this supports the fact that she feels both love and
confrontation for her daughter. Emphasises how hard being a parent is as she’s torn
between letting her out and giving her too much freedom or keeping her locked
away
- “rosy/defiant”- see above
 - “as I stood in a hot, white room...fighting you off”- the peace and normality of her
life before the birth contrasts with conflict that follows

Imagery
• Metaphors
- “Red rope of love” is the umbilical cord, red with the blood of birth. This represents
the special, natural bond between the mother and the daughter. The fact that they
both “fought over” it suggests that they are not fighting to get free as it later says
in the poem, but are fighting to stay together and keep this bond. Red is also the
colour of passion and love and contrasts with the stark, white surroundings
- “I wrote...with my words”- symbolises the shouts of pain filled the bare, small room
with emotion
- “Bringing up/ from the heart’s pool that old rope”- metaphor for the rope that
moors a boat to the harbour wall. The rope is hidden, making the boat look free,
but it isn’t, just like the child. The fact that the child is “bringing up” the rope
suggests that she is showing it to her mother in a plea for it to be gone.
- “in the dark, for one more hour”- this could be a metaphor for the darkness of the
womb and the long labour. She could also be using the darkness to show that she
and her daughter still have a lot to get to know about each other. The dark may
represent the unknown future

Sound
• Half rhymes and chiming words
- “White...lights...tight”,”red rope of love which we both fought over” both separated
by two lines (white...lights), the separated by one line (lights...tight) may show the
separation of the contractions is getting smaller. The assonance emphasises the
sound of screaming/ and also reminds us of a tug of war (also supported by the
metaphor “rope”)- we feel as if we are in the midst of a struggle and are being
pulled into a different direction with each beat
• Alliteration
- “white...window watching”- may emphasise her need to keep on breathing evenly in
the same way and her impatience for this to end

Cold Knap Lake

Structure
• 1st and 3rd stanzas are 4 lines, and the 2nd and 4th stanzas are 6 lines, concluded by the
2 lined 7th stanza
- Reflects what the poem says about memory- the main points are fixed but the
details are looser
• Half rhymes are used throughout poem “crowd...dead” and the last stanza has a full
rhyme to conclude the poem

Language
• Title
ois a real lake, “cold” is something we associate with fear and death, ideas explored in
the poem
• Suggest vagueness of memory
oCrowd...child”
- Characters are anonymous- we know little about them- they are strangers to us, as
they are to Clarke
• Dramatic language
o“a drowned child...she lay for dead”
- The opening of the poem is abrupt and straight to the point- we are not prepared
for the resuscitation of the child, we just think she is already dead.
- This is a dramatic way of showing how everyone else there felt
• Beautiful/ vivid description
 o“blue lipped and dressed in water’s long green silk”
- This metaphor gives us a vivid image of the girl as she wakes up. The water’s long
green silk almost makes her sound like an enchanted creature of the water- like a
mermaid
o“troubled surface...dipped fingers of willows...heavy webs of swans”
- This creates a magical, enchanted sort of atmosphere, transporting us back to our
youth, where there were fairy tales and memories/beliefs in magic
o“heroine...wartime cotton frock”
- She can remember her mother most clearly as she is the only person there that
wasn’t a stranger and is a main part of the activity
• Loose memories
o“all lost things lie under closing water”
- Lost things could be our memories that eventually fade until they are lost
- Verb “lie” may refer to the tricks our memories play on us and make us ask whether
this is a memory or our imagination

Themes
• Parallels with a fairy story
oMiraculous rescue, a heroine, a poor family
- This makes it seem as if all children see everything as innocent and good, and
reflect everything back to the stories they hear or their vivid imagination of magic
and enchantment in the world
o“Troubled surface something else...?”
- May be the surface of the lake/ her uncertain memory/ but also the magic mirror in
fairy tales
• Religious scene
o“kneeling on the earth...red head bowed...gave a strangers child her breath”
- Makes the whole scene sound so much richer, as the mother gave her breath,
something of herself to her stranger
- it highlights how highly she thought of her mother (as people look to god) and her
admiration of her selflessness

Imagery
• Colour
oMother had “red” hair, which is something we associate with blood and life
oContrasts with “blue-lipped” girl
oThen the child became “rosy”, suggesting she had more energy and life in her than
before
• Personification
o“dipped fingers of willows”
- Like an idea form a fairy tale, that the trees are alive

Sound
• Sibilance
o“Webs of swans as their wings...”
- S sound imitate the sounds of swans in flight

Death of a naturalist
Structure
• Iambic pentameter- 10 syllables in each line- emphasises childlike innocence- does
sound as it child wrote the poem himself

• Split into two stanzas- turning point of boys perception of nature- even though
everything is exactly the same

• Enjambment
 - “Warm thick slobber...grew like clotted water...”. this quickens the pace and
illustrates his childlike excitement

Language
• Past tense- suggests this may be Heaney’s memories

• Creates effect of childlike innocence/ enthusiasm

- Examples of sight, sound, touch and smell:

“festered...rotted...gargled...bluebottles...strong gauze of sound...dragon-flies,
spotted butterflies...thick slobber...frogspawn”- helps it have the intimacy of an
actual childhood discovery- recreates the atmosphere with accuracy and vividness

- Huge sense of exploration which inevitably leads to troubled awareness

- Enjambment- “Warm thick slobber...grew like clotted water...” This quickens the
pace and illustrates his childlike excitement

- References to common things children have: “clotted...jellied”- like cream and jam-
something sweet to be enjoyed

- “Miss Walls would tell us how the daddy frog...”- almost imagine and hear the
teacher saying this herself and can imagine group of children taking in every word
she says. The language is simple and is how primary school teachers talk to their
pupils

- “nimble swimming”- the “I” sound sounds light and shows how much enthusiasm he
has and how much he is enjoying this

- 1st stanza- “heavy headed...sweltered...punishing sun...sound around”- makes it

flow better and faster to emphasise his enthusiasm and make it sound more
childish- as if he wrote the poem himself as a young child

- gargled delicately”- delicate, pleasant sounds- emphasise his like

• Change is linked to education and learning

- “miss walls...shelves at school”- shows progression from innocent/ unquestioning

child to an experienced/ reflective adult

• Language to suggest adolescence

- “bass...gross-bellied...coarse croaking” remind us that the boy is going through

body changes and expresses boy’s fear and distaste of the physical and sexual
changes of adolescence

• Complex language/feeling of unpleasantness in second stanza

- “invaded the flax-dam...air was thick with a bass chorus”- shows that he has
developed into a more mature adult

- Language to suggest adolescence- “bass...gross-bellied...coarse croaking” remind

us that the boy is going through body changes and expresses boy’s fear and
distaste of the physical and sexual changes of adolescence

- “Gathered there for vengeance”- shows increased awareness and personal

responsibility. As a child he simply collected the frogspawn but now he reflects on
the meaning and consequences of what he has done and feels he will be punished
for it.

- “One hot day when the fields were rank” makes the day seem really uncomfortable
and stuffy as there is no pleasantness in the lines to come which cancel out this
 stuffy heat, unlike in the first stanza. “rank” reinforces that his perception of this
weather is now horrible and nasty

Imagery
• Simile

- “frogspawn that grew like clotted water”- heavy sounding word- see below

- “pulsed like sails”- makes them sound horrible and threatening

• Personification (military vocabulary)- see below

Sound
• Insects

- “strong gauze of sound”- the “s” and “z” convey the sounds of insects

• Sounds he can hear- first stanza

- “gargled delicately”- delicate, pleasant sounds- emphasise his like

• Words that sound heavy

- “heavy headed...weighted down...huge sods...thick slobber...clotted”- there are lost

of “o” and “u” sounds that sound heavy and create the atmosphere that the day is
hot, unpleasant and muggy. When you feel weighted down and don’t want to do
anything. This shows the child’s innocence because he has enough energy and
enthusiasm to take delight in the day and the flax-dam. The day could be a
metaphor for how flax is weighted down to make linen

• Light sounds

- “nimble swimming”- the “I” sound sounds light and shows how much enthusiasm he
has and how much he is enjoying this

• Alliteration/ assonance

- 1st stanza- “heavy headed...sweltered...punishing sun...sound around”- makes it

flow better and faster to emphasise his enthusiasm and make it sound more
childish- as if he wrote the poem himself as a young child

- 2nd stanza- “Coarse croaking”- the “o” sound sounds heavy again- but on this day
he does not have the enthusiasm of a child- expresses his dislike now

• Sounds he can hear- second stanza

- “coarse croaking...farting”- no longer delicate but masculine and unpleasant

• Onomatopoeia

- “slap and plop”- this slows down the pace and the full stop at the end emphasises
the threat of the flax dam

Themes
• Military vocabulary

- “invaded...cocked...obscene threats...mud grenades” these are all personification

and shows how much of a threat he sees the frogs are

• Changes between childlike innocence and an adult

 - Complex language in second stanza- “invaded the flax-dam...air was thick with a
bass chorus”- shows that he has developed into a more mature adult

- Language to suggest adolescence- “bass...gross-bellied...coarse croaking” remind

us that the boy is going through body changes and expresses boy’s fear and
distaste of the physical and sexual changes of adolescence

- “Gathered there for vengeance”- shows increased awareness and personal

responsibility. As a child he simply collected the frogspawn but now he reflects on
the meaning and consequences of what he has done and feels he will be punished
for it.

Digging

Structure
• The stanzas vary in size, as the lines do. This may be to show there is no pattern or
predictability in our memories

Language
• Blunt title- only when we have read poem do we find out all generations involved in
digging (father-potatoes, grandfather-turf, poet-memories/past/feelings)
• Varying tense
- Begins in present- describing elderly father
- Past tense- remembers father/ grandfather at work
- Last line- future tense- “ill dig”- emphasises Heaney acknowledgement of the
importance of his work too and his determination
• Descriptive language
- “spade sinks into gravelly ground”- alliteration gives the poem rhythm of digging,
- as do some verbs, “nicking and slicing”, which mimic the sound of the spade digging
• Feelings of respect and pride
- “by God, the old man could handle a spade”- this colloquial really stands out as it
sounds as if the poet just said it out loud and as if he is reminiscing proudly
- “old man...old man”- this repetition may show special connection between three
generations
- “heaving sods over his shoulder”- admires his grandfathers strength
• The poet’s thoughts
- “my god...ill dig with it”- some lines where the poet writes words directly- effective
because this makes him realise his skill is important too
• Sense appeal
- Penultimate stanza (smell-“potato mould”, sound-“squelch and slap”, sight-“curt
cuts”) makes it more vivid. Alliteration heightens this experience as we can hear the
sound and rhythm of the digging

Imagery
• Metaphors
- “coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft against the inside knee was levered
firmly”- this could just suggest that his father was very skilled, or it could be a
metaphor for how much his father loved the work, that the spade fit him just right,
to make him do this job as well as he can. Juxtaposition (side by side placing) of
“coarse boot” and “nestled” shows that although the job was manual labour, his
father feels lovingly about it
- The fact that he has “no spade to follow men like them” could again just be a
metaphor for him not wanting or liking the work, that he is not cut out for it
- “Through living roots awaken in my head”- talking about roots of potatoes and
family roots. Sad tone of the line after may suggest he feels guilty/sad for not
following tradition
• Simile
 - “Snug as a gun”- how perfectly the pen fits in his hand and how well suited Heaney
is to write, just as his father/grandfather were suited to dig. Gun-symbol-shows gun
empowers him- the sibilance sounds soft and comfortable- reinforcing he is content
with his choice
• Enjambment
- Between second/third stanza- indicates gap in time
• Repetition
- Final stanza is the same as first but the gun image is replaced by “ill dig with it”-
pen becomes a metaphorical spade- pen is his tool, just as spades were fathers/
grandfathers tools. It also suggests Heaney wants to go back to his roots and dig
into his past through his writing

Sound
• alliteration
- “spade sinks into gravelly ground”- sibilance-sound of the blade through the earth,
g sound- gravelly resistance of the soil
• Repeated sounds/ rhyme
- “thumb...gun”/ “nicking and slicing”- mimics the digging action

Ben Johnson- On my first Sonne

Structure
• One stanza- makes grief plainly known and nothing has to be unpicked as it is easy to
see he loved his son and respects fate
• Rhyming couplets
- Appropriate as his tribute to a young son
- Give the poem structure—may help him hold the memory of his son
• Iambic pentameter- 10 syllables in each line- creates a rhythm
• 12 lines long- 2 lines short of being a sonnet- perhaps his grief was too great to
complete the poem
• Is an elegy (mournful poem)- mourning the death of his son

Language
• Pride and affection
o“lov’d boy” Poem written as if it’s directly to him- makes it more affectionate and
personal
o“Farewell, thou child of my right hand”- Significant as it is a religious first line- Jesus
sat on the right side of God.
- Could also mean that he was better than most and favoured as left-handed children
were scolded.
- Also suggests the Boy’s great worth as he was the eldest, and they were always
seen as the most important child, so he would sit at his father’s right side at the
dining table and would have been the writer’s heir.
- Also- Benjamin is a Hebrew name- means “child of the right hand”
o“his best piece of poetrie”
- Johnson was extremely proud of his poetry- but here he says his son was his best
creation and more important to him than anything he every wrote
• Like a thought pattern
o“Doth lye/ Ben. Johnson”
- Enjambment- heightens importance- makes it seem like thought pattern- goes on
and on
- Caesura- pausing in thought pattern when he comes to his name as if he is about to
cry from grief
• Simple, direct language
- Conveys poets sincerity and grief
 - Not trying to impress with “poetic” language and effects/devices- simple funeral
poem

Themes
• Paradox
 different ideas about death
o“seven yeeres tho wert lent to me, and I thee pay”
- This metaphor is saying that his son was only lent to him, so his boys life is shown
in the terms of a loan, which he has to repay after seven years, on the day it was
due “exacted...the just day”
o“My sinne was too much on thee, lov’d boy”
- He loved his son too much, which was a sin that caused the boy’s death
o“exacted by thy fate”
- He thinks’ the boy’s death was inevitable and something he couldn’t control
 We mourn over something we should envy
o“will man lament the state he should envy”
- He has escaped “fleshes rage...miseries...age” the diseases of the body and the
miseries of growing old
• Religious ideas- as he was Christian
o“right hand”
- Jesus was the right hand of God
o“exacted by thy fate, on the just day”
- Extended metaphor- all people belong to god and are permitted to spend time in
this world
• Should be careful about love
o“My sinne...too much hope... i loose all father now”
- This means that his sin was hoping that his son would live for a long time and
loving his son too much. This caused him a grief so great he wishes he could lose all
feelings of a father
olast two lines
- epigram- a complex idea in two rhyming lines
- Last line- difference between like and love. in future he will not be as pleased and
pleasured by the things he loves- because the grief is too much when we lose them

Imagery
• Metaphor
o“Severn yeeres th’wert lent to me and I thee pay”
- Money is a metaphor for God taking and receiving life at his will

Sound
• Sibilance
o“Rest in soft peace”
- Creates a sense of peace and tranquillity

Patrolling Barnegat

Structure
• 14 lines of free verse
• Rhyme
- One rhyme throughout, all end words end with “ing”- creates the effect that the
storm is never ending and increases the pace of the poem, creating a sense of
urgency and immediacy as we do not know what will happen
• Rhythm
- Six feet in each line- hexameter- lines sound extra long to our ear
- First part of each line are stressed syllables, followed by one or two unstressed
syllables gives us the effect of the waves going in and out of the shore- surging sea
Language
• Military language
- “patrolling…lashing…cutting…advancing”- reminds us of war and gives the
impression that the storm is intent on causing destruction and nature is our enemy
(he may have felt this way after coming back from the hospital volunteer work in
the civil war he did- very moved by the suffering he saw)
• Present tense
- “sea high running”-sense of immediacy-adds to the drama as the events are being
described to us moment by moment-feel uncertainty of poet
• Crescendo-”gradually getting louder”
- Whole poem is made up of one long, complex list of images and actions- no main
verbs- only present participles- these create a crescendo and make it hard to
breathe when we read the poem- almost as if we are in the storm as well

Sound
• Hexameter lines/ half rhymes
- “Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running” imitate the long approach and
repeated crash of big waves on the shore
- “That savage trinity warily watching”- feeling of incompletion- just as the account
has broken off with no answer to the “dim, weird forms”- who are they? And what
are they “wearily watching”
• Repetition
- “wild, wild the storm…savage trinity”- gives us extra emphasis to words and
underlines the fact that the waves keep on coming
• Alliteration/assonance
- “piercing and pealing” suggest various sounds of storm- sounds like the whistling
noise of the wind
- “hoarse roar”- assonance/onomatopoeia reminds us of vicious animals- air is full of
noise, as if something wild has been unleashed
• Sibilance (repetition of s sound)
- “slush and sand spirits of snow”- helps to create the sound of the melting snow
hitting the ground

Imagery
• Personification
- The sea is “muttering” and makes “demonic laughter”- again, get the feeling that
the elements (in this case the sea) is a living, violent creature
- “demoniac laughter”- sounds evil and hellish- furthest thing from peace- as the
storm is personified as laughing we feel it is taking pleasure in causing chaos

Themes
• Religious theme
- Whitman had a deeply religious attitude to nature, which shows in his poetry
- “savage trinity” is repeated twice- the opposite of the holy trinity in Christianity-
consists of the wind, sea and night- is as though god has been replaced with this
vicious turmoil
- “demoniac laughter”- sounds evil and hellish- furthest thing from peace- as the
storm is personified as laughing we feel it is taking pleasure in causing chaos
- “Incessant undertone muttering”- this reminds us of religious rituals and reminds us
that this is natural and what God intended. Even though the storm is bad and can
take lives, the water itself contains thousands of creatures, keeping them alive. This
also sounds as if someone is praying- signifying this storm is so dangerous we
should pray for it to stop

Sonnet
Structure
• Sonnet- 14 lines
• Strict rhyme scheme aa.bb.cc...- helps to hold the poem together and creates a
gentle/soothing feeling- suitable for poems topic
• Often associated with love, so his use of sonnet form shows passion for subject
• 10 syllables- iambic pentameter

Language
• Very simple
o “white wool sack clouds”
- simplicity of language reflects simplicity of the pleasures of summer
o Connotation of white is purity, peace, simplicity
o “forth/and”
- No formal punctuation- unheard of in 19th century
- Contributes to simple feel of poem, suggests freedom and lack of restraint
- Idea of poets passionate breathlessness- so desperate to compliment and talk he
does not pause for breath
• Lots of colour
o “mare blobs stain with Gold”
- Through this and imagery, poet creates a very happy, pretty picture
- Emphasises the perfection of summer
- “mare blobs” could mean blobs of colour
- “floods” could mean a flood of colour
- Fact that he has used gold instead of yellow makes it seem more precious and
valuable

Sound
• Repetition
o “I love...bright”
- Reinforces simple feel of poem
- Emphasises idea of love, brightness of summer, clarity of water
• Alliteration/assonance
o “where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood”
- Mimics sound of the wind
- “oo” also echoes the sound of the wind
- Alliteration emphasises the fresh crisp sounds of summer and has a happy effect

Imagery
• Personification
o “summer beaming forth”
- Could be a person with a beaming smile or the sun with beaming rays
- Immediate sense of warmth and cheer arriving
o “clouds sailing”
- Gives nature a sense of independence
• Many metaphors and similes
o All emphasise beauty and simplicity of summer

Storm on the island

Title
• “Stormont”- beginning of title was also the name of the Irish government at the time
• There is no “the” or “A” at the beginning, signifying he is not talking about a specific
storm, but many of them

Structure
 • Iambic pentameter (10 syllables in each line)- this helps to stress certain words e.g.
“rock and roof”
• Pattern of spoken English, e.g. “as you can see” which makes it feel as if Heaney is
talking directly to us. This emphasises loneliness, which reinforces the dangerousness
of storms- that they can take lives and leave you feeling very alone or isolated.
• Enjambment:
- “when it blows full/Blast”- conveys the impression of a gust of wind suddenly
“blasting” in. The onomatopoeia followed by a semi-colon makes this part of the
poem more shocking and noticeable
- “spits like a tame cat/ Turned savage”- enacts shock at cats sudden change in
temperament

Language
• The poem is in the present tense, which creates a sense of drama and reinforces the
idea that storms happen all of the time
• Heaney uses strong words
- At the start of the poem and phrases to reinforce strength- first 2 lines
“build...squat...sink...rock...good slate”. These all suggest the people are protected
(particularly squat- protective posture) and prepared.
- The whole second line is monosyllabic, reinforcing the solidarity, “sink walls in rock
and roof them with good slate”
- He has also used words with a similar echo to do this “rock...roof/ stooks...stacks”
as these reinforce strength as well
• Tone- Slipping confidence
- Beginning of poem Heaney is confident “we are prepared”-grit your teeth attitude.
- By the end of the poem he is fearful and scared, “strange...fear” is in the last line,
which contradict with the first 3 words and makes them out to be doubtful and
confused. This confident facade that slowly slips makes us unsure of how the
islanders truly feel
- “fear is used twice and is the last word and at the end of another line so he has
used refrain- this isolates the word and shows how the islanders truly feel
• Conversational language/ friendly tone
- uses many conversational tags to draw us in- emphasises loneliness- see above
• Patronising
- Begins a line with “but”. This is a connective and in primary school we are taught to
never use this at the start of a sentence. The fact that he has makes it seem as if
we are unintelligent to not know this- reinforces how we have no clue the dangers
of the storm
- “exploding comfortably”- this oxymoron (contradiction) sounds like Heaney is
pointing out again how little we know- or could just mean that this is a natural
feature of the sea, which makes us think it is ruthless and the storm is intentional

Imagery
• Irony
- The earth is “wizened”- which at first seems to be a complaint, as this means it is
dried up and unable to grow crops, however this turns out to be irony as it is a
blessing as the storm approaches as “there are no stacks/ or stooks to be lost”
- Fearful of “empty air” or a “huge nothing”- questions whether fears are real or
imaginary
• Personification
- The earth is personified “it has never troubled us”, as if it is a considerate friend
who wanted to spare them the trouble of harvesting
- Absent trees personified too; they are not there to provide a “tragic chorus”- he
has emphasised what the earth lacks (trees, haystacks) which shows how barren it
is and the fact that it offers no natural shelter- almost as if it has let them down
• Oxymoron
 - “exploding comfortably”- ”- this oxymoron (contradiction) sounds like Heaney is
pointing out again how little we know- or could just mean that this is a natural
feature of the sea, which makes us think it is ruthless and the storm is intentional
• Simile
- “a tame cat/turned savage” to illustrate what the sea is really like- a tame cat
turned savage is much more dangerous than a wild cat- it is unpredictable and
treacherous

Sound
• Monosyllabic
- The whole second line is monosyllabic, reinforcing the solidarity, “sink walls in rock
and roof them with good slate”
• Alliteration
- He has also used words with a similar echo to do this “rock...roof/ stooks...stacks”
that are alliterative and also reinforce strength
- “the flung spray hits...spits...savage”- (alliteration/ assonance) sounds violent, like
your being attacked. Rhyme between hits/ spits sounds nasty and savage too
• Mimicking
- The “s” and “f” sounds in “dives and strafes” mimics the sound of the wind

Themes
• Emphasises that this is a life and death situation/ that he is lonely
- He talks directly to us “you know what I mean” which emphasises how lonely and
isolated he is on the island- may suggest that the storm is so dangerous it can take
lives and leave you alone.
- “you might think that the sea is company”- also emphasised loneliness
- A “tragic chorus” is a group of people in a Greek drama that comment on the action
of the play but do not take part. They usually do this when there is a death.
Reinforces that this is a life/ death situation
- “a tame cat/turned savage” to illustrate what the sea is really like- a tame cat
turned savage is much more dangerous than a wild cat- it is unpredictable and
treacherous- could cause serious injury
• Military ideas
- “we are prepared: we build our houses squat”- opening words suggests a
community readying itself to endure a war
- “dives...strafes...salvo...bombarded”- these words emphasise the violence of the
storm and their inability to do anything about it but “sit tight”
• The power of nature
- Refers to three elements: earth, water and air- challenges idea that island is idyllic
- The sea is not “company” but like a “savage” cat. The “but no” emphasises this as
the two words are at the start of a sentence, are monosyllabic and are two
negatives- make it clear the sea is not a comfort
- The earth- “it has never troubled us”, as if it is a considerate friend who wanted to
spare them the trouble of harvesting. Absent trees also mentioned they are not
there to provide a “tragic chorus”- he has emphasised what the earth lacks (trees,
haystacks) which shows how barren it is and the fact that it offers no natural
shelter- almost as if it has let them down
- “dives...strafes...salvo...bombarded”- these words emphasise the violence of the
wind and their inability to do anything about it but “sit tight”

The Affliction of Margaret

Structure
• There is a solid rhyming patters a, b, a, b, c, c, c
- I think this affects the poem negatively
- It changes the word order to make it more ambiguous
 - It makes the language sound unnatural for a mother and sounds very false, overly
poetic and clumsy
- As a result of this we don’t really feel much pity for the mother

Language
o “well born, well bred”
- This shows she speaks with pride and she feels she has brought him up well
o “wanted grace, as hath been said, they were not base”
- He did something that wasn’t good that she could not be proud of, and here she is
trying to justify what he did
o ”pride shall help me in my wrong”
- She thinks pride will make everything better, to show that she is not ashamed
o “being blind...grief and pain...worldly grandeur I despise”
- She was first unable to see the faults in him
- But this shows what he did caused her sorrow and showed them to her
- She may have pushed him in to marriage as then marriages were all about “worldly
grandeur” but now she can see she was wrong

The Field Mouse

Structure
• Three stanzas of 9 lines
• Lines- varying lengths- reflect lack of order in the war- torn world

Language/ Themes
• Present tense
- Makes events seem more vivid and suggests that the poem could be true of any
war
• Guilt/ innocence
o“children kneel in long grass”
- This may suggests that many children were massacred in the Bosnian war, and they
were made to kneel and were shot
- Strong feeling of guilt/ innocence- the innocent children can only kneel in front of
adults, as adults kneel to God, and wonder what has happened
- The fact that they are kneeling on the long grass instead of the short (where
suffering of mouse occurred) suggests that they were kept isolated from the war
o“quivering mouse...we have crushed”
- This shows that even a peaceful activity such as ay making contains violence
- Emphasising that even if you think you are doing good (fighting in the war) you will
still unintentionally cause pain
• Implied parallels of hay making and war (mostly metaphors)
o“his hands a nest of quivering mouse”
- Reminds us of how a parent cradles a baby, their hands are a nest- the comfort of
home and how they will do anything to protect the baby because it is small and
vulnerable.
- This suggests that the war makes children grow up faster than they should and
comfort and protect others
o“killed flowers”
- Symbolism of the murdered people in Bosnia
o“the field’s hurt...the field lies bleeding”
- Field is metaphor for country- field(battlefield)- all of the people killed on the earth
and all the people bleeding hurts it
- May suggest that all this war and suffering hurts mother nature as well
o“The dusk garden inhabited by the saved, voles, frogs, a nest of mice”
- These are the animals that survived the tractor- makes us think of the human
refugees that escaped the Bosnian conflict
 - “dusk” may be symbolism for the end
o“my neighbour turned stranger, wounding my land with stones”
- Neighbour who gave land sweetness in the first stanza is now an enemy, wounding
the land. In the Bosnian conflict, neighbours of different religions who had lived
peacefully together became enemies
• Military vocabulary
o“jets...sparks burning...gunfire”
- Reinforces parallels between making hay and war
• Paradox’s
o“summer, and the long grass...air hums with jets”
- Shows the contrast between the rural simplicity and complexities of life on a larger
scale- paradox emphasises that even in the happiest place there is still evil and bad
in the world
- And even the simplest and peaceful activities of cutting hay will affect life- see
above “the mouse...we have crushed”
o“cloud of lime”
- Lime drifting on to their soil to sweeten it
- Lime seems peaceful but under the surface- it was used to break down bodies in the
concentration camps

Sound
• Assonance
o“summer...drum...hums”- sounds like insects
• Alliteration
o“bones brittle as mouse ribs”
- Emphasises how easy their bones are to break and how easy it is to kill them
- “I” sound sounds like the bones breaking

Imagery
• Metaphor
oE.g. “cloud of lime”
- Lime drifting on to their soil to sweeten it
- Lime seems peaceful but under the surface- it was used to break down bodies in the
concentration camps
o“agony big as itself”
- Clarke said that “the birth and death of animals are momentous, intimate events”-
it is reflected here- she shows that even though the death of a mouse to most is
trivial, it isn’t to the mouse

STORIES

Silvia Plath- Superman and Paul Brown’s new snowsuit

Name
o She named this story this because both superman and the snowsuit disappeared.
o Superman represented her innocence and childhood, and when the snowsuit was
ruined, that was the end of both of them.
o Superman was the most important thing to her and the snowsuit was the most
important thing to Paula brown (the two things that each of them loved) but they both
lost them, signifying they both grew up

Context
o Author: Father died when she was eight. Writing is usually about
illness/suffering/death. Became high-achieving and went on to teach English in
university. She was ambitious and drove herself hard, and even after marrying and
 having children, the strain and pressure she put herself under was too great and she
committed suicide.
o Story: Set when Japanese attacked US, this forced them to enter WWII. Japanese
treated prisoners very badly- as said in the story when the narrator goes to the
movies. They were forced to march over 50 miles with no food or water, struck with
rifles, herded into train where they often died of dehydration etc. This deliberate
cruelty is reflected in the story: when Sheldon Fein tortures insects and Paula brown
blames the narrator for spoiling her snowsuit.

Character
 Narrator: anonymous- gives a sense of mystery and intimacy with her. Idealises her
Uncle Frank- thinks he is superman.
 Mother: anxious- daughter should have lots of sleep, checks that the film is innocent
enough for her daughter to see, worries about the war and is glad her husband didn’t
live to see it. She tries to create light (innocence/happiness) for her family with all of
the “candles at supper” but still believes her daughter is guilty.
 Sheldon Fein: outsider
o “Sallow mammy’s boy”, but this could just be because he misses his uncle, as he is a
prisoner. He has the same family relations as narrator, so this may suggest this is what
she would be like without her uncle (father figure) in her life.
o He could also be seen as the “why” the real world is as nasty as it is, because he
played games of war, such as pretending to be a Nazi, once he knew his uncle was a
prisoner and could be dead.
 Uncle Frank: Affectionate and protective towards his niece and they love each other
very much
o “He bore an extraordinary resemblance to superman incognito”- looked up to and
idolised superman because of her dreams of flying, so to compare the two means she
has complete confidence in her uncle. Also emphasises innocence at beginning of the
story- to compare a real person to a superhero
o “I could hear his footsteps getting fainter as he walked off down the hall”- uncle did not
believe her version of events, so this symbolises the fading influence he will have in
her future life- never be superman again
o “in the shadows his face was featureless”-he is part of the dark shadows too- suggests
he has no innocence even though he understood hers and he cannot help her now
 Jimmy lane: He backs Paula up in accusing the narrator, to show his support for Paula
(because he fancies her) and to get back at the narrator for beating him in the
competition.
 Paula Brown: she is unfriendly- only invited narrator to play tag because they needed
someone else, not because she wanted her too. She fancies jimmy lane- always lets
him catch her. She chooses to blame the narrator about the oil, maybe because her
father (Otto) was German, and their family is being isolated as the Germans caused
the WWII.
o “Then, suddenly, her eyes fixed on me. “You,” she said deliberately, pointing at me”-
blamed because she was an easy target/ jimmy had a grudge against her/ she had a
German father- seen as the enemy. Symbolic that the pale snowsuit becomes black as
Paula shows herself in her true “dark” colours

Themes/ imagery
 Opposing ideas: recurring contrast between light (superman’s shining cape, the silver
airplanes, flames of candles, bright light in the narrators home) and dark (gloom of air
raid shelter, black slick of oil in the snow, “black shadow creeping” of night
o “I lay alone in bed, feeling the black shadow creeping up the underside of the world
like a flood tide”- everything has changed- black shadow represents all the dark
knowledge and understanding that takes away the innocence of childhood.
o “I could see another room reflected beyond the dark dining-room window where the
people laughed and talked in a secure web of light, held together by its indescribable
 brilliance”- shows how highly she values her light (innocence). Doesn’t feel part of it
anymore- can only see the reflection  may seem unreal now, something she cannot
be in anymore. She realises that the light of home cannot help her now.
o “I began to run in the cold, raw evening toward the bright squares of light in the
windows that were home”- she believes light of home will be her comfort, as it always
has been
o “The dull, green light of late afternoon came closing down on us, cold and final as a
window blind” simile- suggest blocking out of the light in the narrators life, a blind
shuts out life, just as the innocence of her childhood is shut out
o “I can recall the changing colours of those days”- from light to dark
o When the narrator comes home and her mother and uncle frank do not believe her
story, she leaves the light room and chooses somewhere dark to hide and think. This
shows how everything has changes for her. She has lost her childhood world of
innocence (light) and has entered the cruel real world (dark).
 Peace and war: start- narrator hardly notices threat of war- too caught up in her own
private world of superman. The war eventually affects her more and more- sick when she
sees how the prisoners of war camps are being treated (cannot dream of superman after-
know childhood is fading). Children have their own mini war when she is blamed for
ruining Paula’s new snowsuit- narrator could be a metaphor for the US. By the end the
peaceful, innocent childhood is gone and the real, grown up world remains. This could
symbolise that in war everyone has to let go of their illusions and face reality and this is
the only way we succeed.
o “Every now and then we would practice an air-raid”- the schools have started to
change because everyone is more cautious.
o “The little children in the lower grades would cry” suggests that the children could
sense this and disliked it. It also may show the intuition of children that they knew
something was wrong

Ideas
 Yin yang
o “the main feature was Snow White”- ironic that the film title suggests light, purity,
innocence but is shown together with a war film that is dark and horrific- may
represent yin yang- in all good there is some bad
 The narrator’s loss of childhood is sudden and dramatic (first is sick at the film, and then
is blamed for the snowsuit). Being a victim and then not being believed about her
innocence means she has nothing solid left- her innocent childhood is suddenly “wiped
away”
 About how some people can easily shift the blame for their own actions onto someone
else- Nazi’s encouraged Germans to blame Jews for the countries problems- Paula brown
and jimmy obviously caused the damage to the snowsuit, but blamed it on the narrator

Language
o “nothing held, nothing was left”- short, balanced sentence with repetition of nothing
emphasises finality of situation- all light of childhood have gone because of the war and
bullying- two extremes of conflict
o Opposing ideas- see above

Imagery
 “Those were the days of my Technicolor dreams”- vivid, bright images, this is when the
narrator was most childlike. By the end of the story, the imagery is mainly dark and
colourless, showing her innocence has been lost
 “In the well of faces moving towards me I saw no help”-metaphor- she knows she will not
be saved (once you have lost your innocence, you do not get it back) and this experience
is a kind of death for her as a well is a deep dark hole where someone could drown
 The weather is sometimes used as a metaphor
 “Saturday was bitterly cold and the skies were grey and blurred with the threat of
o
snow”- tag day weather is dark and icy because this is how the narrators life has
become after she is victimised and loses the trust of the people she loves
 Frank is waiting to join the army. He is bound to superman in her mind, but when she
sees the short movie, superman cannot save her from these vivid images. This could be a
metaphor that even the army cannot save these people and all of the suffering that is to
come.

The end of something

Plot
• Setting is linked to the human break up
o“all the piles of lumber were carried away”
- This may suggest that they kept on going with the relationship as much as they
could but eventually had to let it go because neither of them was getting anything
out of it anymore
- This also may suggest that Nick has used Marjorie but now has lost interest
because she is not “fun anymore”
o“I can just remember...it seems more like a castle”
- Marjorie has tried to make the old ruin romantic but Nick doesn’t really think
about it and can just about remember what it was like
- The ruin here is being used as a metaphor for their relationship
- Nick can only just remember the romantic and “fun” times
- Marjorie is still under the impression that all is happy and it still is beautiful and
romantic

Character
• Nick
o“He felt bill coming up to the fire”
- From this you can tell that there is a strong relationship between the two of them,
and it may also suggest that Nick is gay
o“Did she go alright?”
- From this sentence you can see that bill knew they were going to break up so nick
had planned it
- It could be seen that Nick is unfair, because he was horrible to her, picked a fight
and planned this trip, knowing that he would break her heart at the end of it
o“Go on and say it”
- Makes him out to be a coward because he does not break up with her outright,
she had to tell him to
o“They aren’t striking”
- This may be Nick gently trying to break up with Marjorie, as the fish are a
metaphor for him and will not strike, as he will not commit
o“lying, his face on the blanket”
- Use of “lying” is ambiguous- is it about the lying position or that he is lying to bill
• Marjorie
o“it seems more like a castle”
- This emphasises her innocence and her romantic nature.
- It may also show that she still thinks the relationship is beautiful and romantic
o“that’s our old ruin”
- This shows that they have a past and she remembers it full, but also emphasises
how little he remembers about their past
- This may also suggest she knows what is to come and is trying to draw nick into
their shared past
o“She loved fishing. She loved fishing with Nick”
- This repetition emphasises that she loves nick and he is important to her
- Nick says he taught her about fishing, this may suggest she only learnt it for him
 - This contrasts with Nicks stark ungratefulness for even the “basket of supper” she
had made, and shows their different personalities and feelings for each other
o“Marjorie stood up”
- She did not make a fuss over the break up and this shows that she is a dignified
person who is calm and collected
- This makes that reader sympathise and feel pity for her more, as she didn’t
grapple for attention, just accepted her sad fate
• Bill
o“selected a sandwich...walked over to have a look at the rods”
- Bill’s attitude to the picnic basket and fishing rods is very relaxed and casual,
highlighting the tension in Nick’s behaviour earlier in the story

Themes
• Elegiac tone and deals with the end of a relationship
o“everything that had made the mill a mill...stood deserted”
- This creates a sense of loss and negative associations with the idea of change in
the first paragraph
- The lack of people is emphasised by the word “deserted”
- This shows how they are the only people there and may emphasise the lost
feeling in the relationship
o“there it is...i don’t know...you know everything”
- Hemingway has built tension in Nick’s terse answers
- The earlier ending creates an expectation of loss
- When nick then picks a fight, you feel the opposition and contrast between the
two, making you expect the break up
o“Marge”
- Only used when the relationship is nearly at the end
- Hemingway ahs used this to show the affection that once existed and makes the
break p seem more upsetting
• Relationships
o“’did she go all right?’ Bill said. ‘Yes’ Nick said”
- This shows that bill clearly understands how nick feels
- This may be Hemingway trying to tell us that friendship is much more important
and durable than romance
• Symbolism
o“’should I let it drop’...’sure. let it go’”
- Here Nick is in charge of all of the fishing
- This may symbolise he is always in charge, which may have been a cause of the
break-up
o“Marjorie did not reel in until the boat touched the shore”
- She hopes for it to go right until the last minute
- Shows that she is still under the illusion everything is okay with the relationship
and hopes it will be okay for the rest of their lives
o“he knew the moon was coming up”
- The moon seems like a metaphor for the fight or his declaration that he wanted to
break up
- The moon produces no light of its own but is seen as luminary object- this may
suggest that although the relationship may have seemed bright and wonderful, it
never really was really

Your Shoes

Language
• Quite informal and conversational
o “Kids these days. Well. “
- This may suggest she’s so lonely she’s looking at the reader for company
• Moves quite swiftly from one topic to the next
- this is her thought pattern
• changing person- 1st to 3rd
o “can I speak to you...someone half-mad...i made them neat again”
- The change to 3rd person may suggest she doesn’t want to be herself anymore
because of all of the grief
- She could be suggesting she doesn’t matter, even though most of the story is about
her
• Lack of punctuation
o “I love you I love you so much”
- Shows she is finally revealing her true feelings without any hesitation
- Shows her regret for never showing daughter emotion while growing up, so
everything that has been drilled into your subconscious from an early age can
change
- Maybe this is message Roberts wanted to give- representation of catholic attitudes
to women

Ideas
• Woman has no confidence in the child’s ability to cope/ judgemental/ double standards
o “I don’t suppose you do...not very likely, is it, you’ve found yourself a place”
- This shows she is quite judgemental and still thinks of her daughter as a small,
dependent child, which helps to create the image of an overbearing, slightly
delusional mother
o “have to go with men...begging...drug addicts”
- Shows lack of faith in daughter and failure to recognise her as an individual
- Shows prejudice against beggars
- Thinks daughter is a tart and is not clever enough for a job
o “my daughter sleeping on a pile of filth”
o “never told mother I wasn’t a virgin, she’d have had fifty fits...father would have killed
me”
- Childlike language makes it seem as if mother or child could have said it- suggests
similarities between generations
- Okay for her to have sex before marriage but not daughter
• Blaming daughters friends for the way she turned out
o “it was the fashion among you friends I think”
- Blaming friends for how daughter turned out- almost like denial she did anything
wrong
- Didn’t realise it was her fault for showing no affection
- daughter may have done this to get some attention
o “it was that mob you got in with at school...you didn’t mean to hurt me”
- Unrealistic attitude- she thinks her daughter is all naive and innocent and her friends
corrupted her
- Irony- girl knew what she was doing but mother thinks she is perfect still
• Bad relationship with her own mother
o “Fat, let’s be honest. Terribly vulgar”
- No respect/love for her and was rude
o “rows of high heels...too small for her”
- Fact that shoes didn’t fit but she made them suggests that she tried to be a different
person to fit in to society
• Delusional/ actual bad relationship between her and daughter
o “You’re not to die, d’you hear”
- So emotional and desperate her mind is imagining daughters still there
- Sound like all she would do to daughter is shout- unhealthy relationship- reason why
daughter left
o “white trainers, you see I know what you like”
- Daughter left trainers so obviously didn’t like them
 - Didn’t know or understand daughter but pretended she did
- Maybe to try and convince herself she wasn’t her mother
o “never did like curtains...too late, I’d thrown them away”
- Didn’t know what daughter liked/disliked as well as she’d thought
- Irony- grandmother wanted her to be a housewife and that’s what she became,
daughter still kept curtains
- May suggest mother’s know more than you give them credit for
• The strength/ hardships of women (something Roberts believed in)
o “sturdy, with a strong arch”
- Shows that all three generations have put up with the expectations as women,
daughters, wives, housewives in society and are stronger for it
o “He said it wasn’t his job. Just like my father”
- Again shows Roberts views on how women were treated and her feminist views
o “rows of high heels...too small for her”
- Too small- suggests mother could have been a bigger better person but was forced
by society to be less of one

Themes
• Symbolism
o “one shoe pointed ....towards bedroom window....other pointed towards the door”
- The shoes represent the daughter, that she wanted to escape but the mother didn’t
let her as she was trying to hold her too close
o “could be like me and grieve in the darkness”
- Find out here that the shoes don’t just represent daughter, but the mother as well
o “I’ve tied the shoes’ laces together so that they won’t get separated or lost”
- Could refer to the two sides of her daughter- past and present, and she wants her
old daughter back
- Could mean that she is one shoe and her daughter is the other and she wants them
to be together again
• Colour referred to
o “light hurts my eyes”
- Darkness could suggest she is depressed
- Conditions here sound like a womb, could suggest she wants a new start
o “white trainers”
- Symbolises purity and innocence- got shoes because she thinks daughter is this
• Morals and teachings from childhood sticking with you as an adult/ mother and her are the
same
o “right shoes on right...no fuss, like a husband and wife”
- She wants a perfect life
- This is slightly ironic as she doesn’t have it, she married second best, but still
believes the family should be solid and stable
o “he lost his temper...used some unfortunate expressions...hit if I used such language”
- Makes excuses for husband but not daughter, suggests she may always do this, may
be reason for daughter leaving
- Thinks it’s okay for men to lose their temper but women should stand by as they do-
reflects Michele Roberts’ opinions about how women are treated, may be daughter
taking a stand is actually symbolising her
o “I try to put on a cheerful face”
- Brought up in family that show no emotion- she will act socially acceptable
- Just like mother “big lipsticked mouth...father used to wince”
o “Daughters ought to be close to their mothers. I wasn’t to mine”
- May be bitter and sounds like she thinks her and daughter have a good relationship
- But they don’t as many of the same qualities have been instilled in her
o “You’ve got small feet like mine. Like hers”
- Shows that they are the same
 - The way grandmother treated mother meant daughter treated her daughter like that
without meaning to.
- May show the daughter will be like this when she grows up
- Shows shoes symbolise grandmother as well

Imagery
• Personification
o “Pain in. Stops it spilling out and making a terrible mess”
- Pain here is personified as blood
- Shows that her state of mind is not stable
- She could be suicidal and thinking about blood all the time
- Could mean she is in agony
- Or relate to the blood ties of her and her daughter
o “at least this paper has ruled lines my writing can’t fall off
- Been brought up to not express feelings, so she thinks she will go mad if she lets
them out
- Could express her mindset is wavy
o “kept the shoes in the box...delicate white sheets, rustling, uncreased
- Speaking as if shoes are the daughter as a baby straight from the hospital
- Wanted her daughter to be like shoes again, small fragile, pure
• Irony
o “domestic science”
- She wanted to prove everyone wrong and not be a housewife (what is expected)
- Ended up learning about the same things really
o “how could you...sex by the time...fifteen”
- Mother was the same- wasn’t a virgin when she got married
- Behaving exactly as her mother would have
• Shoes were white to symbolise she wanted her daughter to be pure- but daughter wasn’t
and neither was mother when she got married