A level poem summary sheet on 'Lunchtime Lecture by Gillian Clarke' including notes on stanza by stanza analysis, form, structure, techniques, themes and overviews. Perfect for A level revision of Gillian Clarke poetry or perfect even for templates on how to analyse poetry.
CONTENT: This poem is about a museum lecture by an archaeologist about the remains of a
young stone age woman that were discovered by a farmer.
THEME: Mortality, Time, Nature
Key points for essays:
Morality is universal and felt by all
The Beauty that can be found in death
History is a darkness that can never truly be solved
Women as victims of male violence and greed.
STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS:
1ST Stanza:
The first stanza focuses on the young female. Her skull is defined as ‘fine’ hinting at how
young and fragile she was. The image of it being ‘full up with darkness’ doesn’t imply an
emptiness as we expect but shows the skull as containing something this darkness could be
symbolic of the unknowing of who she is and her past. Metaphor of seashell suggests she
has been lost in the vast sea of time. ‘Whiteness’ has connotations of purity. Line 7-8
suggests that she laid peacefully in the dark and speaks of the darkness as something to
embrace instead of something to be scared of. The tractor is described as a predator or thief
as it is ‘biting’ and ‘broke open the grave’. The personification of the light as a crowd
suggests the woman had been exposed and disturbed from her silence and safety in the
dark. The image of her staring back is somewhat uncomfortable and suggests the women is
somehow aware of her remains being found and is shocked to be uncovered – women is a
victim of male greed. The image of the women fitting into a palm of the man’s hand shows a
vulnerability to men as if they have control over her. The mention to a plague or violence
‘destroyed’ her emphasises man’s role in the destruction of women.
2nd Stanza:
Highlights the shock the farmer felt by discovering the women’s bones and how unusual it
was to find her however for the speaker it is not unusual for her to find such things in a
Museum as this is where they ‘belong’. The woman is somehow past death as the ‘smell of
death is done’ she is now a beautiful image of history and time. The caesura and emphasis
of ‘Left’ at the start of the sentence puts emphasis on her bones and how beautiful and
timeless they are. Just as her bones are pieced together like a puzzle so is history. This man
Clarke could be referring to could be her husband and how he never had the opportunity to
see her in such a beautiful and reverential state which has come through her death which
we can imply is the ‘shade’. Or her man could mean her and her physical body. The
repetitive use of ‘perfect’ emphasises the awe that the speaker was in as this women was
nothing but perfect to her ‘with no mistakes’
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