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Analysis of Moments of Grace

Synopsis= This poem has an inconsistent focus, it begins nostalgic and pleasant but moves back to childhood and teenage memory, in the later stanzas Duffy still uses childhood imagery but in the present tense where they feel immobile, ending with reality and the speaker coming to the realisation that she is losing her memories. The inconsistent focus of this poem mimics the fast moving pace of time and memories and how these have a permanent imprint on our later lives.

 Key Quotations + Analysis=
1.)  "Dried ink on the palms suddenly ran wet"
  • Here dried ink refers to when you are younger in school when it was typical to jot your crushes name on your hand, this is significant as it "ran suddenly" mimicking that nervous feeling when around your crush. This would cause your hands to go clammy and it could also portray how our first love slips away.
  • "Palm" can be easily hidden showing that although memories are a part of us we can mask them from anybody else, it is also where your future can be told.
2.)  "Sly Trance"
  • Here the speaker feels sly for reminiscing on past memories of her first love even though she is in a happy and committed relationship, "trance" however suggests that it is beyond the speakers control when she falls into these memories and it is a sort of lapse in time that she goes through.
3.) "Vanishing" 
  • Here this has allusions to magic which is a childlike form of entertainment, this shows that she still is very indulged in her childhood and the awe of magic has not deteriorated with age.
  • It also has a more sinister connotation which is that as the speaker ages her memories began to vanish which could suggests that her mind is playing tricks on her or that she is developing a memory loss condition such as dementia or Alzheimer.
4.) "Memories caged birds wont fly" 
  • Here the contrasting imagery represents the juxtaposing impact of these memories as birds have a strong association with freedom and liberty but this has been clearly restricted by a cage.


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