04/01/07 LO: To explore how McMillan uses imagery and structure to communicate emotions related to the loss of his mother.

Appealing to the Senses Touch Sound Visual

Less revealing – makes reader curious over significance of the date. This date is ‘seared on the poet’s mind’ but not the reader’s. Death of mother is revealed towards end of poem. 04/01/07 Also, it becomes another ‘line in the poem’ that ‘retracts’ and ‘reflects’ the poem. Sound Touch Visual

Personification suggests violent awakening shock Metaphor for dark night The telephone shatters the night’s dark glass. A I’m suddenly awake in the new year air B And in the moment it takes a life to pass A From waking to sleeping I feel you there. B Lack of capital letter shows no cause to celebrate – his father died at similar time of year in 2001 We’re all vulnerable to death Juxtapose – he wakes, she ‘sleeps’

An event that they were expecting, but still a shock Enjambment = slower pace My brother’s voice that sounds like mine C Gives me the news I already knew. D Outside a milk float clinks and shines C And a lit plane drones in the night’s dark blue, D Like he told himself about his mother Suggests early morning Positive aural images, suggests: Early morning Or he’s been up all night Or, that life continues Repeated references to light reflect positivity in light of mother’s death Juxtaposed with negative image of ‘drones’

Aggressive verbs and adjectives reflects raw emotions And I feel the tears slap my torn face; E The light clicks on. I rub my eyes. F I’m trapped inside that empty space E You float in when your mother dies. F He now fills the place of his parents. Generations dying, sense that he’s next in line. Caesura increases the tension. It happens to us all. ‘float’ suggests gentle, natural transition to fill the space of our parents; to be the next to die.

However, it doesn’t end as it carries on However, it doesn’t end as it carries on. Passage of time continues, with becoming granddad Rhyming couplet fits traditional form Parents dying Feeling that the story ends just here, G The stream dried up, the smashed glass clear. G Oxymoron – forces reader to consider meaning. ‘stream’ signifies continuity/ passage of time. ‘drying up’ links to his feeling of something ‘ending’. Or possibly his tears ending. Links to line 1. Dark glass of night ‘smashed’ by the telephone. ‘Clear’ signals he realises it doesn’t ‘just end there’. Leaving more positive ending to poem.

Relationships - with parents; about the passage of time, about families, about parents. Structure: Loose sonnet form (for his mother she said she liked ‘proper poems that rhymed’ so he wrote this for her after her death.) 14 lines but divided into stanzas – perhaps to reflect separation from mother and son. Regular rhyme fits the traditional sonnet form – apart from line 5 and 7, which could suggest speaker’s disorientation. Also strict shape reflects his connection with his mother.

Essay question How does the poet use structure and imagery to convey his feelings about the news of his mother’s death?

Plenary To understand the ways in which McMillan has used imagery and structure to explore emotions experienced on the loss of his mother; To engage with the way time seems to stand still and the accentuation of the senses so that they are more acute.

Compare to… … another poem which uses brief, yet striking images and sounds. … another poem which relates to relationships with parents