The Habit of Light by Gillian Clarke Analysis

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  • Created by: Gemma
  • Created on: 22-05-13 14:54
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  • The Habit of Light by Gillian Clarke
    • Sonnet
      • Sonnet = 14 lines structured as 3 quatrains and a final rhyming couplet
      • Split into 6 lines then 8 lines
        • First 6 lines
          • Starts in early evening and moves on to dawn
          • Details of the interior of the house
          • All about light
            • Visual
              • Brightly coloured object
            • Light reflected off objects
              • e.g the sea
                • Her floors are like the sea
                  • An expanse that reflects light
        • The following 8 lines
          • About the outside of the house
          • Uses Personification
            • Saucepans danced on their lids
              • We've moved on from visuals to sounds and smells
                • This shows life
            • The kettle purred on the Aga
              • We've moved on from visuals to sounds and smells
                • This shows life
    • Themes
      • Lonliness
        • The house and the women are the only things described
          • Almost like she's trapped
          • Or, is she waiting for somebody to come?
      • The Memory
        • The narrator is reminiscing of this person
          • Is the house reminiscing about times when she lived there?
            • She's gone now
          • Is he remembering herself in the past?
            • As a little girl?
        • Is she remembering her mother?
        • Seeing her as a saint
          • A habit of light
        • Is it a mother looking back at her daughter who has left?
        • There is a saintliness, a serenity and an innocence about this woman
          • Is she a young woman?
    • Language
      • Come through the bean rows in tottering shoes
        • Focus on the shoes
          • The shoes totter, not the girl
      • Beyond the swimming glass of old windows
        • Swirly glass?
        • Glass that is floored in some way?
        • Looking through a window into the past
          • The Memory
            • The narrator is reminiscing of this person
              • Is the house reminiscing about times when she lived there?
                • She's gone now
              • Is he remembering herself in the past?
                • As a little girl?
            • Is she remembering her mother?
            • Seeing her as a saint
              • A habit of light
            • Is it a mother looking back at her daughter who has left?
            • There is a saintliness, a serenity and an innocence about this woman
              • Is she a young woman?
      • Her oak floors
      • Painting a positive picture
        • Show off her brass, her polished furniture, her silver and glass
          • Shining/ reflecting
          • Serene, quiet quality
        • Her oak floors flickered
        • The kettle purred
          • Contentment
            • Her oak floors flickered
        • Rhyme scheme
          • Links phrases and words
          • A lettuce, bringing
            • A blackbird singing
              • Rhyme scheme
                • Links phrases and words
                • A lettuce, bringing
                  • A blackbird singing
                  • Her red hair bright
                  • Her habit of light
                    • Her red hair bright
                  • To show off her brass
                  • Her silver and glass
                    • To show off her brass
            • Her habit of light
              • Her silver and glass

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