‘Adlestrop’ At a Glance
Use this activity sheet to record your ideas about the poem ‘Adlestrop’ as you study it.
Keep this in your notes for revision.
Language Structure/
Form
Highly evocative Loosely written in 4 stanzas
Strong sense of idealized Tetrameter
reminiscence Relaxed in form - like the recollection
‘mistier’ birdcall - implies the scene is Informality - ‘Yes’ - relaxed
acknowledgment
viewed and heard through fog of time
Caesura w. dashes, short sentences -
Feeling of hiatus - breaking up rhythm of stanzas
o Busy, noisy, mechanized Enjambment of some lines = free flowing;
‘express-train’ pulls into the reminiscent of original diary jottings
station - juxtaposed w. the Structurally, descriptions built carefully
peaceful tranquility of the Train has made a stop at Adlestrop
English countryside ‘unwontedly’ - break from the expected
o ‘No-one left and no-one came’ - journey
gentle reminder of a time and Movement from the specific and quiet of
place which would never fully the ‘bare platform’ in 2nd stanza -> wider
cacophony of ‘all the birds/ Of
be regained
Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire’ by final
Sensory detail - stanza
o Onomatopoeia - ‘hissed’, gently
evocative Broadening of focus emphasized by
Use of gentle sibilance - feeling of repetition of ‘farther’ - also symbolic of
hush the peace and tranquility
‘Adlestrop’
Context Potential
Comparisons
Use this activity sheet to record your ideas about the poem ‘Adlestrop’ as you study it.
Keep this in your notes for revision.
Language Structure/
Form
Highly evocative Loosely written in 4 stanzas
Strong sense of idealized Tetrameter
reminiscence Relaxed in form - like the recollection
‘mistier’ birdcall - implies the scene is Informality - ‘Yes’ - relaxed
acknowledgment
viewed and heard through fog of time
Caesura w. dashes, short sentences -
Feeling of hiatus - breaking up rhythm of stanzas
o Busy, noisy, mechanized Enjambment of some lines = free flowing;
‘express-train’ pulls into the reminiscent of original diary jottings
station - juxtaposed w. the Structurally, descriptions built carefully
peaceful tranquility of the Train has made a stop at Adlestrop
English countryside ‘unwontedly’ - break from the expected
o ‘No-one left and no-one came’ - journey
gentle reminder of a time and Movement from the specific and quiet of
place which would never fully the ‘bare platform’ in 2nd stanza -> wider
cacophony of ‘all the birds/ Of
be regained
Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire’ by final
Sensory detail - stanza
o Onomatopoeia - ‘hissed’, gently
evocative Broadening of focus emphasized by
Use of gentle sibilance - feeling of repetition of ‘farther’ - also symbolic of
hush the peace and tranquility
‘Adlestrop’
Context Potential
Comparisons
