'An Easy Passage'

• grew up in London 
• her poems are often subtly and elaborately structured 
• she grew up with three brothers and craved her own space 

• the poem explores the shift from childhood to adulthood
• in light of this explaination- the title seems ironic
• the theme of this poem is universal 
• the poem is about a girl sneaking into her house 
• this is something she clearly is not meant to be doing 
• the poem is not written in verses but as one continous flow 

• 'Once she is is halfway up there, crouched in her bikini...' 
• past event , she is vunerable , she is 'halfway' between childhood and adulthood
• 'on the porch roof of her family's house, trembling,'- her state of mind - she is frightened/ in 
• she is in fear of falling
• 'the sharp drop of the stairwell; she must keep her mind' - building up willpower to jump 
• 'on the friend with whom she is half in love' - innocence of youth/ purity 
• repetition of 'keep in mind' 
• she is being supported by her friend 
• 'and on the fact of the open window,' - reader learns of girl's intention

• 'the flimsy,hole-punched , aluminium lever'- sense of fragility
• 'towards which in a moment she will reach'- suggesting she is getting to old for this 
• 'but first she steadies herself,' - growing courage 
• 'the grains of the asphalt'- sandy black grains 
• 'hot beneath her toes and fingertips'- a warm day 
• 'a square of petrified beach' - she is disobeying her parents 
• 'her tiny breasts rest lightly on her thighs.' - puberty

• 'What can she know ( new line) of the way the world admits us less and less the more we grow?' - naivety 
• present tense 
• 'For now both girls seems lit, as if from within,'- radiance of youth
• 'for now the house exists only for them, set back as it is '- they have no perspective of the world at large
• they are unaware or oblivious  ot the wider world
• 'from the long ,grey eyw of the street'- the watchful eye
• 'the mother ( next line) who does not trust her daughter with the key' - not considered ready for responsibility so has sneaked out
• 'the workers about their business in the drab' - work is something the girls have never done - they are freedom 
• drab'- refers to boredoom 

• 'far too, most far , from the flush -faced secretary'- alliteration - this is the girl's future
• 'who,with her head full of the evening class (next line) she plans to take or the trip of a lifetime,'- she has no time for fun - busy stressed out adult- focusing on task/concentrating 
• 'looks up now from the stirring omens of the astrology column'- sinister / onimous 
• 'at a girl -thirteen if she's a day'- age of girl/ v. young -rebellion 
• 'in next to nothing in the driveway opposite,' - use of other person's perspective by poet 

• 'shielding her eyes to gaze up at a pale calf,'- shiny /brightness - girl is breaking in 
• an adult would never do this 
• 'a silver anklet'- something of value 
• 'the five neat shimmering -oyster -painted toenails'- fashion -type of nail polish
• 'of an outstreached foot' - smoothness of movement 
• enjambment -'which catch the sunlifght briefly'- sunlight suggest positive memory when everything seemed great 
• 'like a flash of armaments' - simile - weaponary - armour attack
• flash of potential
• this is an unsual choice of words, there is a hint of menance here 
• 'before (next line ) dropping gracefully into the shade of the house'- she has achieved what she set out to do
• shows she is not ready for responsibility as she did a dangerous thing
• she is falling in line / acquiescing
• - breaking in not out of her house 

Structure 

• enjamebent -constant continous flow -reflects  women writers thoughts at time 
• the enjamebent leads to a conversational glow

Summary

• the girls situation is delicate 
• the writer has used physicality of the girls fragility
• the writer has used dark/light imagery throughout the poem 
• the poem is about the  girl's  evental descent into the gray adult world around her
• but the use of 'armaments' towards the end of the poem -feistness -might meant the girl will 'fight' the future that has been mapped out for her