Stanza 1:

first line suggests extreme concentration in order to do something; deep thought, trying to retrieve a memory; 'on the tip of my tongue,' person unable to remember because of old age, a health condition or trauma
'scare yourself' is an unusual idea followed by an almost familiar expression, 'within an inch of the heart' - almost familiarity shows struggle to remember
perhaps afraid to lose memory; memories that appear that are unfamiliar must be scary
age is referred to directly; 'how old are you now?', like visiting the person in their memory, long time since they have seen each other
enjambment to next stanza; thought/sentence unfinished

Stanza 2:

introduces the subject; the child
'sepia' suggests old photographs, but 'not in sepia' suggests poet is talking about a living child, not a picture; memory loss causes the persona to look back at old photographs to 'prompt' her memory and sees her memories for the first time
having a memory box with photographs in it is common on dementia wards
'lives' implies that it is independent of the persona, important to see the child outside of the photograph
next line identifies the child as a girl
she is placed geographically, on a beach, alone
bucket and spade suggest she is occupied, not lonely, information comes to the persona slowly, memory unfolding
list of things in bucket show detail persona remembers, Duffy uses lists in her poetry
crabs being caught is a childish activity - shows the girl's age in the memory
'don't move' is an instruction for the reader and perhaps themselves, otherwise they will lose the memory, as it is very fragile, like a wild animal they are trying to catch/observe
'trow' = think or believe in Middle English, used by Chaucer in 14th Century, used to show distance between memory and 'you'

Stanza 3:

another instruction for the reader gets them to focus on clearer recollection, so they can always find the memory; no need to externalise the sound by describing it; hold it firmly in your head
image of platinum; metallic and reflective
'Earth seemed to turn away' -play on words, Earth does turn, passing of time; suggests rejection, of the child, writer or reader? something abhorrent is occurring
abrupt change from the scene to the child itself

Stanza 4:

Stanza 5:

reminder that the child is simple memory
'nearly there' - so near yet so far or so near and no nearer
directly addressing 'you', answering on behalf of 'you', elderly person who cannot speak for themselves
'of all people' - nothing in common with the child, no reason to speak to them

	Created by Summer Pearce over 7 years ago

A-Level (Year 1) (Year 1) English Language and Literature (Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy) Note on Beachcomber, created by Summer Pearce on 11/01/2017.