Song for Last Year's Wife

475 Words2 Pages
Tone/Narrator - The reader particularly feels the poet's affection and longing for Alice as he starts the poem with 'Alice', directly addressing his former wife to show that he was truly thinking about her a lot when he was writing the poem. Also, the poet uses the first person to write the poem and directly addresses the reader by using personal pronouns ('you'), and 'you' is repeated for many times in the poem, showing that again the poet is obsessed with 'Alice' and that he can't stop thinking about her, emphasising how much he longs for her. By his obsession of the word Alice and the repetitiveness of personal pronouns it can show his love to the Alice. Language – Ali A lot of winter imagery is used in the poem (' The earth's still as hard', 'empty gardens'). This is used so that the reader can visualise these scenes and connect them to the status of the poet's relationship with 'Alice': There's no warmth, no passion, their relationship is dead and non-existent just like how the gardens are 'empty' and how all the plants and flowers die in winter. This emphasises the feeling of loss and emptiness. There are a few opposites in the poem, for example 'winter' and 'warmth' (which is used when describing 'Alice') as well as 'inviting' and 'isolation' (again 'inviting' was used when describing 'Alice'). The words 'warmth' and 'inviting' are deeply tempting and the reader is attracted to these words, as compared to the words 'isolation' and 'winter. This lets the reader experience how much the poet longs to be with 'Alice' again and his attraction towards her. Structure/ Rhyme & Rhythm – Usman A The poem doesn't have a particular form. It is written in one complete stanza and has a lot of enjambment. Enjambment shows that the poem is having endless thoughts about 'Alice', suggesting that even though he is supposed to get over his wife just as his marriage has
Open Document