Skip to main content

Analysis of Nostalgia

Synopsis= Nostalgia is classed as a desire to return to a former time in our lives which is heavily conveyed in this poem. It is set in the past in the perception of mercenaries from Switzerland who had to leave their homes in search of fortunes. Nostalgia can also be classed as a mental illness that is incurable, sickness is portrayed in this poem both physically as the mercenaries would often suffer from severe altitude pains and pain of being removed from their home setting.

 Key quotations + Analysis=
1.) "Crude coins clenched"
  • This imagery gives the impression that the coins are worthless, just like the memories in their head, it also portrays money in a negative light which suggests that the mercenaries are bitter tat they've had to leave their home for the sake of earning money.
  • The use of consonance conveys the harshness of nostalgia to a persons mental health and the blunt, severe feeling of the altitude pains that the Swiss mercenaries felt. It could also emphasise the progression of nostalgia.
2.) "Sweet pain" 
  • Duffy uses an oxymoronic phrase which could show the mercenaries inner conflict of them trying to battle their emotional turmoil caused by nostalgia. It could also show a shift in emotions from past to present and future, the future for the mercenaries are filled with pain yet the past is sweet which adds a bittersweet tone to the line. The phrase bittersweet can be conveyed heavily in this poem as the financial gain is sweet but the sacrifices to gain it are bitter. 
3.) "Stile" 
  • A stile acts as a barrier between paths which could connote that there is a barrier between the speakers past and present, the emotions from those periods of time do not merge together and it is not a smooth recollection of thoughts.
  • The word choice also signifies that there is something stopping the speaker being able to happily reminisce on their past

 4.) "Some would never fall in love had they not heard of love"
  • Here Duffy may be referring to some of the mercenaries not leaving home as they were aware of the pain
  • It also has a philosophical meaning which is that love has such an influence because of the stories told about it, therefore without these stories people may not have experienced the heartbreak that they claimed to have endured.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of First Love

Synopsis= Duffy focuses this poem on the impact that is left after going through a first love and the surreal feeling of falling in love that takes over a persona briefly. It is clear to see in this poem that the speaker is now disconnected from their first love but the memories of it are reflected on nostalgically and with pleasure Key Quotations + Analysis= Waking, with a dream of first love forming real words, as close to my lips as lipstick, I speaker your name, after a silence of years, into the pillow, and the power of your name brings me here to the window, naked, to say it again to a garden shaking with light. This was a child's love, and yet I clench my eyes  till the pictures return, unfocused at first, then almost clear, an old film played at a slow speed. All day I will glimpse it, in windows of changing sky,   in mirrors, my lover's eyes, wherever you are. And later a star, long dead , here seems precisely  the size of a tear....
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysis of Fraud

Synopsis= It is widely believed that Duffy based the poem 'Fraud' on a man name Robert Maxwell, however his prior name was Jon Ludwick Hock. Maxwell managed to carve a new identity for himself in England after moving from Czechoslovakia where he became a largely successful MP and media head. However after his death there was a burst of controversy surrounding Maxwell as it was believed that there was a lot of flaws in his finances, mainly from pensions. Key Quotations + Analysis 1.) "I spoke the English" Here the speaker is trying to affirm his English identity, however the deviant grammar contradicts this as no native English person would make this mistake. As a result this error flaws the speakers cover and almost unveils his true identity. 2.) "Politicians in and out of their pram"  This line has a lot of plosive language which can convey the speakers bitterness towards politics, his bitter tone is somewhat ironic as Robert Maxwell himself was...
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysis of The Cliche Kid

Synopsis= Duffy uses this poem to explore the themes of mental health and isolation amongst young people and could be perhaps expressing the daily pressures that young people face and the detrimental effects attached to them, shown through the speaker of the poem who is clearly in a deviated mental health state. Key Quotations + Analysis 1.) "The rustle of my fathers ballgown" This initially gives an extremely distorted image of the speakers childhood as they have obviously blurred the gender roles of their mother and father, this distortion could imply that the speaker has lost grip of their identity and do not have clear grasp on what gender role they fit in as they are so lost within cliche/stereotypical perceptions of gender that they are unaware of how to act. This further conveys the emotional turmoil of the speaker because they are confused in their own body.  The word choice "rustle" is significant as it is such a precise sound to remember yet the spe...
Post a Comment
Read more