'The Gun'- Vicki Feaver

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  • 'The Gun'- Vicki Feaver
    • IMAGERY
      • The lurking ominous appearance of the gun on the kitchen table in the opening
        • "like something dead"
        • The juxtaposition of a domestic image of a "kitchen table" coupled with the "long metal barrel" of the gun, less domestic image
      • The dead animals in the progression
        • Put into the progression to enhance the shift of the impact the gun has on the house
        • "perforating tins" to "rabbit shot clean through the head"
        • "fills with creatures", emphasis on "run and flown" to be no more
          • Animals lack of freedom
      • The image of death and its king in the close
        • Has almost altered reality in the house
        • Evokes morbid imagery and a sense of evil within the house
        • "his black mouth sprouting gold crocuses"
        • "excited as if the King of Death had arrived to feast, staking out of winter woods"
    • STRUCTURE
      • Two lines isolated from rest of the poem
        • 1-"Bringing a gun into a house changes it"
        • 2-"A gun brings a house alive"
          • 1-"Bringing a gun into a house changes it"
        • The second isolated line answers the first one
          • Almost a sense of satisfaction, as if the gun was the answer to their marital problems
          • Justification of the gun being in house
          • Puts major significance on the impact the gun has
            • Almost idolised?
        • Allows reader to question the use of guns
      • "Bringing a gun into a house changes it"
        • First line to engage and establish the focus on the gun, although brings ambiguity
          • Feaver establishes the change later on
        • Reference to change mirrors the varying line/stanza lengths
          • Emphasises the impact of gun, reinforces the first line
      • Ever-changing line and stanza length
        • Reflects the everlasting impact on the house from the moment the gun appears in it
        • Could foreshadow the foreboding doom and consequences of the gun?
        • A sense of uncertainty and danger which thrills the narrator
        • Use of punctuation, mostly commas, shifts lines abruptly and mirrors the sounds and sudden impact of the gun and its bullets "shot clean through the head"
    • FORM
      • Tone changes just like the line lengths
        • Tone fluctuates from casual to serious
          • "At first" which progresses onto "Soon"
            • Reflects the addiction for destruction, fueled by the gun and its brutal nature
              • "soon the fridge fills with creatures", which then puts "a spring in your step"
          • Could foreshadow the danger to the reader although the narrator seems to take it less seriously, and cherishes it
          • "soon the fridge fills with creatures", which then puts "a spring in your step"
    • LANGUAGE
      • Destructive language builds up as poem progresses
        • "shot clean through the head"
        • "you trample fur and feathers"
        • Speeds the pace of the poem
          • Could reflect the thrill the characters feel?
          • Could mirror the addiction rapidly growing?
        • Sense of satisfaction/enjoyment for the reader?
      • Animalistic yet suggestive language
        • "your eyes gleam like when sex was fresh"
          • Very direct here, forceful and explicit due to the power the gun has given the male
        • "Your hands reek of gun oil and entrails"
        • Changes the relationship

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