Quickdraw

Quickdraw

1. compares phone call& texts in a relationship to gun fight in a western

2. narrator seems to get worst of these encounters & left hurt and wounded

3. Form

   • loosely structured
     • adds to tension as we don't know what to expect
   • use of enjambment , assonance, alliteration and internal rhymes at irregular intervals makes poem seem tense & unpredictable
   • 'You've wounded me.' 'through the heart'
     • split lines suggest how hurt she is by lover's words

4. Structure

   • unpredictable
   • lots of punctuation
     • mirrors heat of argument
     • Random punctuation- emotions coming through
   • poem describes how lover makes contact series of times and narrators actions
   • we experience events in same order as narrator adding to tension
   • conceit(extended metaphor)
     • argument is like shoot out
       • phone vs guns

5. Language about communication

   • 'landline phones like guns'
     • language is to do with phones
       • modern and different poem
     • simile
       • using phones to fight/argue with each other
   • 'quickdraw'
     • suggests how rapidly she answers phone
   • 'tone. I twirl the phone'
     • internal rhyme
       • adds emphasis to fractured rhythm of poem
   • 'and this...and this..'
     • repetition makes seem that the text kisses are like bullets from gun

6. Language from westerns

   • clichéd imagery
     • old fashion imagery contrasts with ref to mobile phones
   • 'old Last chance saloon'
     • classic western image
     • last chance to save relationship
     • relationship is close to end
   • 'I reel'
     • like she's been shot & links events with films
   • 'silver bullets'
     • only thing that calm her down are the kisses
     • suggests they're precious and valuable
   • 'pellet'
     • saying nasty things to them

7. 'I'm all alone'

   • enjambement
     • emphasis to word by leaving it on the line away from sentence

8. 'wide of the mark'

   • words haven't impacted

9. 'blast me'

   • being aggressive and sharp
   • obliterates them

10. opposite language=opposition of relationship

    • juxtaposition

11. Feelings and Attitudes

    • Hurt
      • Western imagery makes pain of being in relationship seem quite physical
        • knocking her down in final stanza
    • Expectation
      • despite pain relationship is causing her, the narrator seems desperate to get messages
        • answers phone quickly in first stanza & fumbling for it in last
    • tension
      • on edge throughout poem