Effects - Alan Jenkins
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
1/1 ‘I’ Singular personal pronoun.
1/1 ‘her hand’ Triggers a Proustian rush.
1/1 ‘scarred’ Negative tinge to poem. Idea of
permanence with ‘always’ and
scars never going away.
1/2 ‘chopping, slicing’ Present participle creates a sense
of energy, contrasting with her
death
1/2 ‘lay in wait’ Could be a reference to how death
is inevitable. Line break suggests
that death is waiting to ambush
1/3 ‘washing-up’ Gender stereotyped
1/3 ‘raw’ Raw memories or grief. The
alliteration of ‘raw’, ‘reddened’ and
‘rough’ enacts the roughness of
grief.
1/6 ‘giving love the Britishness - finding it difficult to
only way she knew’ express emotions
1/7 ‘roast and stew’ British
1/8 ‘old-fashioned Inclusive pronoun - family
food she cooked
and we ate’
1/9 ‘rings’ Contrast between the objects of
beauty and adornment and the
‘scarred’, ugly hand.
1/12 ‘snap or two’ Colloquial. Sense of tension still
because ‘snap’
1/13 ‘ ‘abroad’ ‘ Less cosmopolitan in the past
1/16 ‘he was dead.’ Caesura and full stop show the
abrupt ending of a person’s life.
Suggests it was a difficult marriage
1/17 ‘Classic ladies’ Gender
model’
1/20 ‘game shows’ No excitement in this life - living
vicariously through cheap TV
1/23 ‘I’d disdain’ Imperfect suggests that it
happened regularly
1/27 ‘ ‘funny foreign Mildly racist
stuff’ ‘
1/28 ‘Young people’ Disconnected and isolated away
‘she’d heard’ from young people or society in
general
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
1/1 ‘I’ Singular personal pronoun.
1/1 ‘her hand’ Triggers a Proustian rush.
1/1 ‘scarred’ Negative tinge to poem. Idea of
permanence with ‘always’ and
scars never going away.
1/2 ‘chopping, slicing’ Present participle creates a sense
of energy, contrasting with her
death
1/2 ‘lay in wait’ Could be a reference to how death
is inevitable. Line break suggests
that death is waiting to ambush
1/3 ‘washing-up’ Gender stereotyped
1/3 ‘raw’ Raw memories or grief. The
alliteration of ‘raw’, ‘reddened’ and
‘rough’ enacts the roughness of
grief.
1/6 ‘giving love the Britishness - finding it difficult to
only way she knew’ express emotions
1/7 ‘roast and stew’ British
1/8 ‘old-fashioned Inclusive pronoun - family
food she cooked
and we ate’
1/9 ‘rings’ Contrast between the objects of
beauty and adornment and the
‘scarred’, ugly hand.
1/12 ‘snap or two’ Colloquial. Sense of tension still
because ‘snap’
1/13 ‘ ‘abroad’ ‘ Less cosmopolitan in the past
1/16 ‘he was dead.’ Caesura and full stop show the
abrupt ending of a person’s life.
Suggests it was a difficult marriage
1/17 ‘Classic ladies’ Gender
model’
1/20 ‘game shows’ No excitement in this life - living
vicariously through cheap TV
1/23 ‘I’d disdain’ Imperfect suggests that it
happened regularly
1/27 ‘ ‘funny foreign Mildly racist
stuff’ ‘
1/28 ‘Young people’ Disconnected and isolated away
‘she’d heard’ from young people or society in
general
