Beachcomber- Carol Ann Duffy

?
View mindmap
  • Beachcomber
    • Stanza 1
      • "you"
        • Pronoun- double meaning- talks to reader and/or herself as a child?
      • "How old are you now?"
        • Reality hits them- the realisation that they cannot live in the past. Causes a depressive image to be creatted.
      • "within an inch of the heart"
        • Hyberbolic language- Powerful emotion
    • Stanza 2
      • "the child"
        • Definitive article- referring to specific person/distance of the memory.
      • "sepia"
        • Imagery. Flashback
      • "bucket "spade" "seaweed"
        • Leixes field: All these nouns are used to convey a sense of the beach to the audience. It provides imagery to make the audience relieve their own experiences of the beach, as it is a common memory.
      • "Don't move. Trow"
        • The short sentence is used to create a representation of the short lived memories that the persona encounters during her time relieving her past.
          • Conveys the idea that if she moves- she may lose the memory- "Trow" is an archaic word which has lost its use (to think/to believe)
    • Stanza 3
      • "platinum"
        • colour imagery- priceless/valuable - facing heaven
      • "earth seemed to turn away"
        • metephor for time passing
      • "go for the sound of the sea"
        • assonance- gives the reader a clear sense of the place . Sensory imager/sibilance sense of tranquility/vivid detail within memory
    • Stanza 4
      • "the red spade"
        • remembers the small things which the narrator most vividly remembers sibilance is used to create a sea like sound - the movement of the sand is iconic for the narrator as it triggers the biggest of her memories
          • a semantic field of the seaside is used with enjambment to create an effect of loss of time, when reflecting on the past
      • "sea-water seeping in"
        • assonance
      • "the girl suddenly holding a conch, listening, sssh"
        • onomatopeia/aural imagery
    • Stanza 5
      • "Nearly here"
        • Incomplete grammatical structure/ reflecting of age/nostalgia
      • "or" "or" "or"
        • repetition of "or"
      • "what would you have to say"
        • Guilt is clear. The word "exactly" suggests that the persona would not have a respond to this question or prefers not to answer. This means that she feels like she has let herself down.
    • Themes- sense of place

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Language & Literature resources:

See all English Language & Literature resources »See all Carol Ann Duffy Anthology resources »