This document contains detailed analysis, context and in-depth literary conventions for the Poetry section of the Edexcel A-Level English Literature course. Further support is given to students with the inclusion of quotation banks providing students with the foundations to be successful in essay q...
Title:
The title of the poem is a reference to ‘On His Blindness’ by 17th century poet John
Milton, in which Milton considers his own life, health and difficulties.
By being in the third person it suggests a sense of observation to events, which
could cause some readers to find it more emotive
Views the struggles the personas mother faced herself rather than that of oneself
Structure:
Two lines per stanza (with the exception of the final stanza) is relatively unusual
because it visually breaks the poem up so much and can be seen as making it more
challenging to read at a normal pace.
Another key structural technique is the lack of full stops and end-stopped lines in the
poem, with only a handful throughout. This further intensifies the feeling that this is a
personal poem, but it also could be interpreted as alluding to a constant flow of
memories that are being brought up; either in conversation, or during the narrator
remembering their mother after her death.
Lack of a rhyme scheme suggests the confusing and disorientating nature of
blindness that was caused for the personas mother.
Length of each line is consistent with exceptions. The lines are short with six or
seven words per line and the shorter lines have five words.
Poem begins with ‘could not bear being blind’ with the first phrase for the noticeable
alliteration to help represent to the reader a strong and emotional impact of being
blind, both for those who witness the difficulties of the sufferer and the sufferer
themselves.
Speech within the poem emphasis the personal tone and nature to the reader as well
as the idea of conversation which demonstrates the structure.
‘Slow slide’ creates sibilance for the description to help emphasise the pessimistic
situation the narrator mother is in, with additional audible emphasis place on the
drawn out ‘slow’ By a reader.
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