Explanations - Statement and voice self test

  1. (c) The subject matter is girls working at sewing machines possibly in a clothing/ curtain factory. Note the mention of: "seated in rows at the machines"; "tacking needle"; "stitches"; "seams"; "cloth".
  2. (c) The whole poem is an observation of and a comment on the girls working in a clothing/curtain factory. What they are doing while they are sewing is a matter for conjecture - perhaps daydreaming.
  3. (c) The poet queries what the girls are doing while endlessly sewing and conjectures that they are daydreaming.
  4. (b) There are specific nouns and noun groups which identify the setting as that of a clothing factory: "seated in rows at the machines"; "the tacking needle"; "stitches"; "fields of cloth"; "seams" "thread".
  5. (a) We are sharing with the woman the thoughts and feelings she is experiencing. We are, as it were, inside her head: "heartfelt game"; "All her love needed"; "merely living kept the blood alive"; "Now an old habit leads from sink to stove"; "And waits in hunger to look like love."; "this was a game." She is revealing how empty and unwanted she feels in terms of her person. She knows that she has been used and now cast aside.
  6. (b) The poem points to what happened in the past and what is happening in the present: "It was a heartfelt game"; Now an old habit leads from sink to stove."
  7. (a) There is an indication from the line: "And merely living kept the blood alive" of loss and low spirits and a real sense of emptiness and low self-esteem, especially when, in the second stanza this line is reinforced with: "And waits in hunger dressed to look like love."; and the final line ". . .remind her this was a game, when it began."
  8. (b) The line: "And waits in hunger dressed to look like love" perhaps, more than any other line, brings out the point that "People need to be appreciated for themselves, not their function."
  9. (a) Phrases such as: "see them in droves"; "west-country stations"; "a job off the coves." belong to the culture of "the bush". The word, "coves" was commonly used among working class males to signify "other men", in this case, those men who had properties and shearing sheds.
  10. (b) The statement being made in this stanza is couched in the language of the comparatively uneducated Australian "bloke" who met up regularly with his mates in the pub and chatted with the stranger over a beer. He is informing his listener that it is a common sight to see large numbers of men heading out to the sheep stations in shearing time looking for work: "And it's then you will see them in droves/ To the west-country steering/ A-seeking a job off the coves.". The last line here is very telling. "A-seeking" is a shortened version of "who are looking for"; "a job off the coves" is particularly an Australian colloquialism from "the bush". Who but an Australian would know that this last phrase meant "employment from the station owners?
  11. (b) This little stanza is packed with the colloquialisms and speech mannerisms of the working class Irishman: the Gaelic "Slainte" (Cheers), "charmin' variety", "I'd advance ye without impropriety", "agin" coupled with typical Irish exaggerations: "powerfulest", "tenderest" and "kindliest". However, the one phrase that holds the key is that of "ould Donegal". The speaker and the priest reside in the same place. If the speech had taken place in Australia, there would have been some reference to an Australian place or setting.
  12. (b) The language used here is a type of dialect in that the speaker uses English but expresses it in imperfect syntax, and at times, inaccurate grammar. The phrasing reflects the native language of the speaker which is probably Hindi. Note the incomplete idea "foreign", the expression, "in two three days" in which the conjunction "or" is missing, "you are all knowing" meaning "you are all aware" and "Miss Pushpa is smiling and smiling/ even for no reason", a disjointed way of saying: "Miss Pushpa is always smiling, even if there isn't a reason." Notice, in particular, the disjointedness of the syntax in the last line of the extract,
    "I am not remembering now which place."
  13. (a) There is a pretence here in the speaker's way of talking about Miss Pushpa. In fact, he appears to be making fun of Miss Pushpa when he refers to both "internal" and "external" sweetness and how this lady is forever smiling even when there isn't a reason! There is an implication that she is an empty, uninteresting individual. The speaker underlines her lack of impact when he can't remember her place of origin even though her father was reportedly an important magistrate.
  14. (c) It is a rainy night in William Street. The poet refers not only to the red and green glow of light from the traffic lights but the reflections of these lights as "split on the stones, going deeper than a stream.". The wet surface is playing a game with the reflected lights.

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