“Little Red Cap”
Notes on important lines
into playing fields, the This line conveys the idea that the allotment is the man's mistress who
factory, allotments he keeps on the side.
kept, like mistresses, by It is puzzling that this sentence portrays the allotment as a treacherous
kneeling married men, territory, as if the man was cheating on his princpal property: his
house. Allotment also refers to something that is distributed. Could
indicate someone sick of marriage, or using an allotment for deceit.
"Kneeling" here refers to agriculture instead of proposal.
the silent railway line, the "Silent railway line" indicates that the railway line is abandoned, which
hermit’s caravan, portrays abandonment. Here, the settings mentioned gradually
increase in the intensity of the sense of abandonmemt, with the
hermit's caravan arguably exudes most isolation. It also gives the sense
that what is the come is even more abandoned than the "edge of the
woods". This is a quintessential sense in which tension is often evoked:
the place at which a forest immediately begins symbolizes that
unknown in children's fiction.
till you came at last to the Here, the woods connote danger and could be representative of
adulthood or the end of innocence.
edge of the woods.
He stood in a clearing, That the antagonist of the poem reads verse could signal the opposite
reading his verse out loud meaning as that in "Anne Hathaway", where reading poetry now
expresses danger. But "verse" also means a part from religious texts, as
in a Bible verse.
in his wolfy drawl, a The sense of “drawl” in this stanza is achieved through the repetition
of the “w” sound.
paperback in his hairy paw,
red wine staining his "Red wine" as a euphemism for blood, or as something connoting
bearded jaw. What big ears pseudo-intellectualism.
sweet sixteen, never been, This is a reference to the saying “sweet sixteen, never been kissed”, but
here the word could instead mean f*****. “Babe” means both child and
babe, waif, and bought me a
attractive girl.
drink,
my first. You might ask “my first” could both refer to how the drink is her first time consuming
alcohol or to how the wolf is her first time having sex (or being in a
why. Here’s why. Poetry.
relationship).
what little girl doesn’t dearly Could be a reference to Plath's saying that each woman dearly loves a
love a wolf? fascist or to Frost’s “Mending Wall”.
and went in search of a The image of a wolf eating a white dove is alarming, as the girl is
similarly vulnerable. It also clashed the symbols of dove as peace and
living bird – white dove –
innocence and wolf as evil (which is fairy tale-like, in a predictable and
cliché way). This also reflects that the poem is a pastiche.
warm, beating, frantic, “music and blood” could be representative of soul and flesh.
winged; music and blood.
Notes on important lines
into playing fields, the This line conveys the idea that the allotment is the man's mistress who
factory, allotments he keeps on the side.
kept, like mistresses, by It is puzzling that this sentence portrays the allotment as a treacherous
kneeling married men, territory, as if the man was cheating on his princpal property: his
house. Allotment also refers to something that is distributed. Could
indicate someone sick of marriage, or using an allotment for deceit.
"Kneeling" here refers to agriculture instead of proposal.
the silent railway line, the "Silent railway line" indicates that the railway line is abandoned, which
hermit’s caravan, portrays abandonment. Here, the settings mentioned gradually
increase in the intensity of the sense of abandonmemt, with the
hermit's caravan arguably exudes most isolation. It also gives the sense
that what is the come is even more abandoned than the "edge of the
woods". This is a quintessential sense in which tension is often evoked:
the place at which a forest immediately begins symbolizes that
unknown in children's fiction.
till you came at last to the Here, the woods connote danger and could be representative of
adulthood or the end of innocence.
edge of the woods.
He stood in a clearing, That the antagonist of the poem reads verse could signal the opposite
reading his verse out loud meaning as that in "Anne Hathaway", where reading poetry now
expresses danger. But "verse" also means a part from religious texts, as
in a Bible verse.
in his wolfy drawl, a The sense of “drawl” in this stanza is achieved through the repetition
of the “w” sound.
paperback in his hairy paw,
red wine staining his "Red wine" as a euphemism for blood, or as something connoting
bearded jaw. What big ears pseudo-intellectualism.
sweet sixteen, never been, This is a reference to the saying “sweet sixteen, never been kissed”, but
here the word could instead mean f*****. “Babe” means both child and
babe, waif, and bought me a
attractive girl.
drink,
my first. You might ask “my first” could both refer to how the drink is her first time consuming
alcohol or to how the wolf is her first time having sex (or being in a
why. Here’s why. Poetry.
relationship).
what little girl doesn’t dearly Could be a reference to Plath's saying that each woman dearly loves a
love a wolf? fascist or to Frost’s “Mending Wall”.
and went in search of a The image of a wolf eating a white dove is alarming, as the girl is
similarly vulnerable. It also clashed the symbols of dove as peace and
living bird – white dove –
innocence and wolf as evil (which is fairy tale-like, in a predictable and
cliché way). This also reflects that the poem is a pastiche.
warm, beating, frantic, “music and blood” could be representative of soul and flesh.
winged; music and blood.
