Technique/idea Key Quotes and analysis
Key themes: What does Social expectations Throughout the poem, the speaker
this poem explore? Illness highlights how society often expects
Pretences people suffering from a severe
Stoicism illness to display emotion about the
anxiousness that they may feel.
It is implied that the speaker is ill,
possibly terminally, having to make
sense of ‘consultant’s monologues’.
The speaker feels the need to
‘pretend all’s well. Admit it’s not’. It’s
unclear whether she’s pretending to
herself, others or both.
The speaker feels the need to be
stoic in face of her illness, telling
people she's ‘getting on, getting
better’, to solve ‘well meant
intrusiveness’.
Language: Any patterns Semantic field The speaker uses a semantic field
of language? Poetic Alliteration and plosive of stage metaphors, she’s ‘best
techniques? Eg: similes, consonants observed on stage’, making
metaphors, verbs, etc. Asyndetic listing ‘entrances and exits’, being a ‘star’.
Contradictions The use of alliteration and plosive
Asyndetic list consonants in ‘midget moments
Rhetorical question wrong, the monstrous fabric’, like
‘g’, ‘t’ and ‘d’ create a harsh and
abrupt sound and perhaps this
reflects how the speaker has
become tired of this pretence. We
often refer to the ‘fabric of society’,
but here the poet has manipulated
language and the fabric is described
as ‘monstrous’. This could represent
how the speaker finds the social
structure in our society unpleasant
and too rigid.
The asyndetic listing of hospitals,
‘driving to hospitals. Parking at
hospitals… getting on terms with
receptionists’, highlights the
monotony and grim reality of the
speaker’s life, she is far from a
‘star’.
The contradictory demands of
‘pretend all’s well. Admit it’s not’
highlight the speaker’s stoicism. She
puts up a pretence for others but
feels the pain herself.
Another asyndetic listing is used
‘tears, torpor, boredom, lassitude,
Key themes: What does Social expectations Throughout the poem, the speaker
this poem explore? Illness highlights how society often expects
Pretences people suffering from a severe
Stoicism illness to display emotion about the
anxiousness that they may feel.
It is implied that the speaker is ill,
possibly terminally, having to make
sense of ‘consultant’s monologues’.
The speaker feels the need to
‘pretend all’s well. Admit it’s not’. It’s
unclear whether she’s pretending to
herself, others or both.
The speaker feels the need to be
stoic in face of her illness, telling
people she's ‘getting on, getting
better’, to solve ‘well meant
intrusiveness’.
Language: Any patterns Semantic field The speaker uses a semantic field
of language? Poetic Alliteration and plosive of stage metaphors, she’s ‘best
techniques? Eg: similes, consonants observed on stage’, making
metaphors, verbs, etc. Asyndetic listing ‘entrances and exits’, being a ‘star’.
Contradictions The use of alliteration and plosive
Asyndetic list consonants in ‘midget moments
Rhetorical question wrong, the monstrous fabric’, like
‘g’, ‘t’ and ‘d’ create a harsh and
abrupt sound and perhaps this
reflects how the speaker has
become tired of this pretence. We
often refer to the ‘fabric of society’,
but here the poet has manipulated
language and the fabric is described
as ‘monstrous’. This could represent
how the speaker finds the social
structure in our society unpleasant
and too rigid.
The asyndetic listing of hospitals,
‘driving to hospitals. Parking at
hospitals… getting on terms with
receptionists’, highlights the
monotony and grim reality of the
speaker’s life, she is far from a
‘star’.
The contradictory demands of
‘pretend all’s well. Admit it’s not’
highlight the speaker’s stoicism. She
puts up a pretence for others but
feels the pain herself.
Another asyndetic listing is used
‘tears, torpor, boredom, lassitude,
