Flashcards
The Lost Woman - Patricia Beer
Cards in this deck (8)
- 1"The Lost Woman"She has lost her mother, a source of love
'Lost' She has no direction, doesn't know where she is going
She has been left behind/ abandoned
'Woman' is a generic term,
indicates mystery or confusion. Could also symbolize distance between their relationship - 2"Home form school on a June morning"End of school, like end of her mother's life
Bright, happy summer days juxtaposes with the sorrow inside the house - 3"shocking white"White represents death in some cultures
Devoid of colour, devoid of life
Doesn't fit in with nature scene, unwelcome and unexpected
Causes a vivid contrast, which stays in Beer's memory - 4"I never saw her buried"Enjambment: Memories of her mother carry on with her, like words carrying on to the next line
No closure, she cannot move on. - 5"The ivy-mother turned into a tree"Poison ivy: Mother's death caused
her pain
Ivy is growing, like pain is growing
Evergreen plant: Mother's memory
never dies.
Instead of being a clingy, needy person (like the mother was in her lifetime) she is now idealised as strong and powerful like a tree
Ivy clings: Poet clings to
mother's memories - 6"I made a life for her"Changed her mother's life in her memories as she felt her mother deserved a
better life
Guilty her mother didn't have a better life, trying to rectify this
Symbolizes distance between her and her mother, as she can't recount her mother's life, she has to make one up - 7"She is nearly always benign"At times, the memory of her mother is toxic, and harms Beer
Idea of cancer: causes stress, fear
and danger - 8StructureSeems like an elegy (lament for the dead)
Repetition of "never" emphasizes the emptiness created by her loss
Half-rhymes used, creates feeling of strangeness and awkwardness, reflects her relationship with her mother
Caesura, makes it difficult to read, just like life is difficult for the child with mother's memory tormenting her
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- Description
- Here are my notes for this poem! Enjoy! *Some credit given to azittoun, for their amazing flashcards!
- Created by
- Diana Domingues
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