Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Skirrid Hill Themes
- women as more
dangerous than men/
gender roles
- "Show"
- elevates female beauty whilst maintaining
the lurking presence of the male gaze
- the second part of the poem presents the
masculine speaker in a stagnant position
'wait[ing]' for the lover - a reversal of the typical
conventions of his writing
- contrasting with the models from part 1,
Sheers' lover holds the power - the
commercialisation of beauty leads to the
disempowerment of women
- 'all of it leaves me surrendered' - the 'spell' of
her sexappeal has ensnared the poet, the
speaker feels undermined
- for the speaker, the danger that
comes from women is sexuality
above all else: 'one shoulder bare'
- "night windows"
- oxymoronic blend of connection
and disconnection is explored by
the contrasting states of the
physical and emotional
- link between woman and nature echoes
throughout the collection - comparing the
female body to iconic aspects of Welsh
geography - 'curves' of 'landscape' and
'valleyed''pelvis'
- emphasis serves to elevate the
eroticism of the female body - comes
with a sombre tone - 'distant'
- the active force of the poem 'you
lowered yourself' taking control
over the sexual encounter - the
complete sense of ownership
over her own body, with the
connection spanning from the
'top of your head/ to the end of
your toes' is empowering ,
eventually leaving Sheers alone
in the darkness
- the mentioning of a 'siren' in the penultimate stanza
can be perceived as a reference to the woman - as
well as detachment - mythical sirens lure men to
their deaths as his lover lures the speaker to
emotional retractment and disconnection - power
- 'with a sigh you rose from me'
- 'trailing the dress of your shadow behind you'
- deeply flawed romantic
relationships - impossible
to maintain
- "Keyways"
- conceit of 'keys' can be
seen to mirror a romantic
relationship of monogamy
and fidelity - phallic and
yonic imagery
- dependency and
inability to let go -
finding familiarity in
the past and
memories
- (S1) caesura: "Strange then,"
- sombre tone, end stop
at the end of the line
suggests finality
- (S1) 'tak[ing] back' emphasises the
physical act of letting go but there
is a much more innate, emotional
desire to retrieve time and
memories - melancholy sense,
devoid of emboldened statements
of sorrow
- (S2) end stop on line 3 acts as Volta, changing
the tone to focus on the past, rather than
the present, reinforcing the idea of
familiarity in the past and establishing a
level of solace - emblematic of withdrawal
from reality into the past
- (S2) juxtaposition: 'an uncut key, a smooth blade'
suggests that for the speaker the relationship was
crucial for the shaping of his identity - reliance and
dependency
- (S2) the idea that each
memory has worked
itself into the very being
of Sheers' personality,
shaping it as a locksmith
shapes a key
- (S3) distinct parallel between
Sheers' physical and innate state
converges into one in the 1st
line: simultaneously 'waiting' for
his self to be shaped by the
memories
- there is a philosophical foundation
to this concept as 'moments in
time' shape his being, enforcing the
idea that memories shape Sheers,
ultimately altering his own self
progressively - impact of
relationship
- tone of divine intervention upon the
keys' compatibility in a theistic
manner of the trinity: 'elbow, shoulder
and hip.' concept of destiny and
soulmates
- usual preference for tercets
and quatrains is dismissed
here: the choice of 5 lines may
point to the impact of the
relationship - more complex
and longer suggesting that
the speaker is in denial,
reinforced by the cyclical
structure and the pattern of
memories
- "Marking Time"
- employment of traditional form of love poetry with the absence of typical features (rhyming
couplets) demonstrates a rebellion against and a subversion of the archetypical form of love,
prompting ideas about modern challenges in love via physical representation
- 'the volte' aversion of the
typical Volta in a sonnet -
point at which the semantics
of marking trees appears
'lovers who carve trees'
- ironically going back to archetypical
notion of romance - the immortalisation
of names like the scar
- burned mark on the woman's back is a memory
being manifested through a physical
representation
- syntactical placement of
'that mark' at the
beginning of the poem
instantly draws on the
conceit : the scar -
describing it as 'that'
signifies sacredness and
the psychological
connection that binds the
lovers - sexual memory
- emphasis on the
connection of the
physical and mental -
inherently intertwined
- however the
certainty that both the
scar and memory will
fade is melancholy
- curious shift between tenses: present
'fading finally', future 'our memory will'
and past 'our lust wouldn't wait' - order of
information disjointed - ephemeralness of
relationship
- 3 tenses met with - physicality
'back', brain activity 'memory'
and carnal desires 'lust'
- 'brand-burn' plosives serve for a
double meaning - passionate
relationship that has commemorated
its own lust through he physicality of
the scar - undertone of violence
- 'Two-tattered flags'
polysemic point to double
meaning - adjective focuses
on the degeneration of
their love vs Welsh identity
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