SECTION A:
QUESTION 1: POEM – FOR SEAN DOWLING
1.1. Sean Dowling: “For Sean Dowling”, (Dedication).
1.2. Figuratively and means young children full of life and carefree.
1.3. They were eight children who did everything together: “and all of us playing red
rover”, (line 9). The poem suggests that their life as children was playful and “happy”,
(line2).
2. Continuing the sentence without a pause creates the effect of continuousness and
speed. Through this the children’s play and running is manifested.
3. Alliteration occurs through the sounds repetition “when we were”, (line 1) to emphasise
the sounds made by children swinging in the trees. Rhyme schemes occur in “knees”,
(line 3) and “gumtrees” (line 4) to make the stanza musical and links to the children’s
play in the stanza.
4. The image is that of the poet going to the ruins and sitting down next to the toaster. It
creates the sense of impossibility because a toaster seems out of place with the ruins. It
refers to the ruins of their old home, and the poet sitting next to the spot where the
toaster used to be when visiting that area
5. Stanza 2 occurs in the present tense whereas stanza 1 is placed in the past when the
poet was a child. The time is changed with the use of past tense in the sentence “you
knew so much”, (line 10), referring to her brother Sean. She then indicates that the
place where their toaster used to be is part of ruins she now visits often.
6. In stanza 1 the game the children play is named “red rover”, (line 9) and in stanza 3 it
refers to the memory of the game which now in present time becomes a metaphor for
the poet’s longing for her dead brother, whom she calls to “come over”, (line 16). The
repetition emphasises the importance of the game for the siblings and becomes a
symbol of their love from childhood into life, and even remains in death.
7. The theme of the poem is the shared love of the game “red rover”, (lines 9 and 16)
between the siblings and that it becomes symbolic of their love, even in death.
QUESTION 1: POEM – FOR SEAN DOWLING
1.1. Sean Dowling: “For Sean Dowling”, (Dedication).
1.2. Figuratively and means young children full of life and carefree.
1.3. They were eight children who did everything together: “and all of us playing red
rover”, (line 9). The poem suggests that their life as children was playful and “happy”,
(line2).
2. Continuing the sentence without a pause creates the effect of continuousness and
speed. Through this the children’s play and running is manifested.
3. Alliteration occurs through the sounds repetition “when we were”, (line 1) to emphasise
the sounds made by children swinging in the trees. Rhyme schemes occur in “knees”,
(line 3) and “gumtrees” (line 4) to make the stanza musical and links to the children’s
play in the stanza.
4. The image is that of the poet going to the ruins and sitting down next to the toaster. It
creates the sense of impossibility because a toaster seems out of place with the ruins. It
refers to the ruins of their old home, and the poet sitting next to the spot where the
toaster used to be when visiting that area
5. Stanza 2 occurs in the present tense whereas stanza 1 is placed in the past when the
poet was a child. The time is changed with the use of past tense in the sentence “you
knew so much”, (line 10), referring to her brother Sean. She then indicates that the
place where their toaster used to be is part of ruins she now visits often.
6. In stanza 1 the game the children play is named “red rover”, (line 9) and in stanza 3 it
refers to the memory of the game which now in present time becomes a metaphor for
the poet’s longing for her dead brother, whom she calls to “come over”, (line 16). The
repetition emphasises the importance of the game for the siblings and becomes a
symbol of their love from childhood into life, and even remains in death.
7. The theme of the poem is the shared love of the game “red rover”, (lines 9 and 16)
between the siblings and that it becomes symbolic of their love, even in death.
