You're flashcards

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What poem makes use of a natural semantic field in its first stanza?
You're
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What allusion does Plath use in You're to describe the shape of the unborn child?
'Atlas'
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What does the fish imagery develop into from stanza one of 'You're'?
It develops into ideas around space and scale.
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What are examples of cosmic images in 'You're'?
Stars, moon-skulled
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By directly addressing the unborn what sense does this create?
A sense of intimicacy
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What reinforces the connection between the mother and the unborn in 'You're'?
The assonance of 'snug as a bud'
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What does the structure of 'You're' highlight?
9 months of being pregnant and there are 9 lines in each stanza.
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What experience of pregnancy is 'You're' highlighting?
It is depicting the ambivalent, anxious and joyful experience of pregnancy.
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What is the overall tne of the typical expecting mother?
Anxious, excited, impatient and happy.
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What is a clear indication and quote that proves that Plath is discussing an unborn child?
"Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,/Gilled like a fish..."
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What effect does this description have?
Plath describes the unborn as having their feet pointing to the stars and this shows how Plath is imagining the position of the fetus within her.
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What effect does Plath create as she compares the fetus to a gilled fish?
She effectively describes how undeveloped the life form is at this point.
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What does the line "thumbs-down on the dodo's mode" then have?
It creates a distinction between the new life of the fetus and the death and extinction of the large flightless island bird called the dodo.
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What does Plath compare the fetus to?
She compares the fetus in her dark womb to an owl in the dark night.
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WWhat do the lines "Mute as a turnip from the Forth/ Of July to All Fool's Day" represent?
The time the fetus takes to develop into a baby (which obviously takes nine months)
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How many lines are in each half of the poem?
Nine lines
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Does Plath end the first stanza on a sweet note?
Yes she does, she calls her fetus her "little loaf" --> which can also be translated as her "bun in the oven."
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How does Plath seem in the second half of the poem?
More anticipatory and anxious.
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When does her tone shift?
When Plath's metaphors compare the fetus to things like eels and Mexican jumping beans in order to describe the movements it makes inside of her.
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What is an example of this?
Well she waits for the baby like she waits "for mail. / Farther off than Australia"
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TThen what happens next?
She expresses the anxiety of such an overwhelming burden such as motherhood.
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How does she resolve?
She becomes more neutral --> "Right, like a well-done sum. / A clean slate, with your face on it."
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What is the strucutre of this poem?
There is no clear pattern in this poem so there is not a fixed amount of syllables in this poem.
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What do most of the lines have?
8 or 7 syllables and some have 6 with an exception
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What is each line a description of?
The baby or the poet's emotions during this pregnancy.
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What is the poem?
It is one continuous flow of description as it is not separated by paragraphs.
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What literary devices are used in this poem?
Enjambment, similes and metaphors.
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Is the title itself an example of enjambment?
Yes it is, as it says 'You're/ Clownlike'
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What instant effect does this enjambment create?
It is used to add emphasis on the fact that there are a lot of emotions that the mother feels and that there are so many various things that her baby is.
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How are similes and metaphors used in this poem?
They are used to allow the poet to fully convey her feelings in a way that the reader would be able to understand.
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What effect does the simile "like a sprat in a pickle jug" have?
Well a Sprat is a very small fish and this then represents how small the baby was and the pickle jug is a small space which is filled with preservatives to keep the pickles. Here, Plath is emphasising the fact that the womb in which the baby was in
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Does the word "moon-skulled have negative or positive connotations?
Negative connotations
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What is special about the tone of this poem in this poem?
It is very clear to the audience. There is excitement mixed with a hint of fear. --> e.g. "looked for like mail"
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What is an example of the persona's fear in this poem?
"Trawling your dark as owls do"
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What does 'dark' have connotations of?
Hell, the unknown, the dark and bad times
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What allusion does Plath use in You're to describe the shape of the unborn child?

Back

'Atlas'

Card 3

Front

What does the fish imagery develop into from stanza one of 'You're'?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are examples of cosmic images in 'You're'?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

By directly addressing the unborn what sense does this create?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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