Plastic notesheet _letters_from_yorkshire[

1. PLASTICPoetryNotes – GCSE EnglishLiterature PastandPresent:PoetryAnthology –Love andRelationships –Letters fromYorkshireP.12
Poetic devices and their effects – form (ballad,
sonnet, free verse, dramatic monologue),
alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, onomatopoeia,
‘plantingpotatoes’ – plosivealliteration Echoes the harsh realities of workingon the land – the
p sounds arelikeplacingsomethinginto the soil
Dramatic monologue – written in the firstperson Shows the raw emotions of separation and difference
between the speaker and the man
Free verse Unrhymed – a lack of organisation,again a rawness
and frankness to the communication
Language and its effects – what sort of words
are in the poem? Violent, loving, colloquial,
archaic, semantic fields, diction, religious, romantic
language
Active verbs – digging,planting,singing Suggests the man’s world is one of constant movement
and physical exertion which is in contrastto the
speaker’s simple‘feeding’ of words
Words to do with communication – ‘sends me word
after word’ ‘news’ ‘tap out’
It is a poem about understandingand maintaining
communication.The ‘word’ turns to messages which
the souls ‘tap out’ which mirrors telegrams,which have
a sense of urgency.
Words to do with weather and seasons – ‘warmth’
‘cold’‘seasons’‘ice’ ‘snow’ ‘air’‘light’
The man comes into the ‘warmth’ but ironically there
is no emotional warmth due to the distancebetween
himself and the speaker. The ice perhaps represents
the difficulties and emotional coldnessfeltdue to the
separation.
Alternative interpretations – Can quotations be
read in two ways for different meanings?
‘His knuckles singing’ He exalts in the physical work and his body is filled with
joy or his knuckles are‘singing’in pain due to the
physical exertion.
‘My heartful of headlines’ Her heart is full of shortand sharp information which
demands attention or her heart has no room for him

2. PLASTICPoetryNotes – GCSE EnglishLiterature PastandPresent:PoetryAnthology –Love andRelationships –Letters fromYorkshireP.12
due to her need to work
‘blank screen’ Her work isn’tproductive or enjoyable/ She is
distracted from her work due to the emotional
separation
Structure and its effects – tonal shifts, pace,
caesura, what rhyme stresses, beginning, middle,
end, repetition, dialogue and where it happens,
enjambment
Contrastbetween the two lives Sense of nature versus technology; outsideversus the
inside.
The end seems to have a sense of urgent connection –
‘tap out messages’
One lastdesperate attempt by each other to
communicate across the vastdistances
Caesura of snow. Suggests a sudden breakthrough in communication,as
this path being cleared metaphorically allows himto
send word
Tone and its effects – talking about moods which
are evoked and where, narrative voice
‘icy miles’ Suggests hopeful tone as they are only ‘icy’miles not
iced.
‘pouringair and lightinto an envelope’ Has a restorative tone likethe man’s words can bring
nature to the speaker
‘You wouldn’t say so’
Defiant and co-operative. Suggests that his lover/the
speaker’s work has value.
Imagery and its effects - metaphor, simile,
personification, visual sense
‘Pouringair and lightinto an envelope’ Magical feel – the man has power over nature to save
his lover/the speaker from being trapped at her job
‘reddened in warmth’ The home can restore the man’s physical coldness
‘breakingice’ A sudden and violentattempt at breakingdown
barriers of communication.A desperation/frustration
Context – authorial, social and historical Maura Dooley was born in Truro, Cornwall in 1957
and grew up in Bristol. She worked in Yorkshire for
a time and has lived in London.
She has known both rural and city lifeand potentially
values country lifemore because it’s natural and life
affirming.