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Analysis of The Windows

Synopsis= This poems heavily explores the theme of loneliness as the speaker pries into what appears to be a perfect life, this is also deemed to be out of reach for the speaker and unattainable.

 1.) "Behind Yellow Windows"
  • There are many connotations to the word choice yellow= it radiates a positive image and it is associated with happiness and joy. However, in darkness and through time, white and cream taints to a yellow colour. This could suggest that the speaker once had a similar life to the one they admire, but with age they have been excluded and shut away from all forms of sunlight/ joy, causing them to fade.
2.)  "Those who love you forgive you, clearly" 
  • There is a sarcastic association with the word choice clearly, this could suggest that the speaker is bitter towards their lifestyle and is jealous that her life has not had such a positive outcome.
  • Clearly could also convey that the speaker doesn't have a clear representation of their life as she is only viewing it from a window, this means that at a closer distance there could be more cracks or imperfections, its as if she is looking through 'rose tinted glasses'.
3.) "What you see what you smell what you taste"
  • Here the use of synaesthesia reinforces the speakers confusion and the repeated pronoun "you" suggests that the speaker is constantly imagining the other persons life and there is a reoccurring thought in their mind about what life is like through the windows.
  •  The lack of punctuation reinforces this as it forces the reader to say the line without pause, this demonstrates that there is no escape from these obsessive thoughts.
4.) "Right words wait in the dictionaries... tip of your tongue you touch in a kiss"

  • Here Carol Ann Duffy is yet again using language to describe the speakers emotions, the speaker is lost for words or perhaps so insecure to say the wrong thing she must rely on the dictionaries for support
  • "Tip of your tongues" suggest that the speaker is so close to saying something but she cannot, furthermore mirroring that the window is such a thin barrier between the speaker and those they admire but they still remain worlds apart, the window prevents her from accessing her speech.
5.) "Drawing your crimson curtains now - against dark hours" 

  • Enjambment= The speakers obsession is beyond unhealthy and reaching a possessive nature, it could also demonstrate how long the speaker has been watching them for
  •  Crimson= a shade of red in immense detail, accentuating how much the speaker believes to know about the other peoples lives, yet the fact that her curtains are not mentioned convey that she has pushed aside anything relevant in her life to admire those of others. 
Themes in The Windows
  • Isolation
  • Lack of Love 
Links to other poems=
Havisham= Similarly to the speaker of the windows the speaker of Havisham faces a lack of love which causes them to decay, both use colour imagery of "yellow" to portray the effects of a lack of relationships

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