Discuss Wendy Cope’s Treatment of Ordinary Life Being Boring

The poem is separated into two parts, each with sixteen lines, and is loosely based on an iambic pentameter metre. The rhyme scheme is ABAB throughout the poem, with the noticeable exception of the last four lines of part II, in which it changes to

The poem is formed of eight stanzas, each one is six lines long except for the fifth stanza which is an octet. The stanzas are formed of sets of three rhyming couplets in the

The most visually noticeable part of this poem is the format. It isn’t written in familiar stanzas with any kind of meter or complex

The poem does not follow a rhyme scheme or meter, which means that there is rhythm in the poem and it makes the poem more like a song. The poem has four stanza’s and has five lines within each stanza.

The structure is simple, 4 sets of three lined stanzas. The introduction sums up the feeling of what many felt when he was bowled out first ball, “bowled out for a duck, you could have asked for better”, alliteration is also used in this literature eg “war, women waiting”. I’ve used descriptive words to paint pictures in the head to create a mental image of what I saw that day eg “clear white flannels sharp against the green turf”. The whole poem has that flowing feel to it also just like the first poem mentioned.

The poem describes the weather and its effect on cotton flower by pointing out the dying branches and vanishing cotton. The image of insufficiency, struggle and death parallel the oppression of African American race. The beginning of the poem illustrates the struggle and suffering of the cotton flower; which represent the misery of African Americans and also gives an idea that there is no hope for them. But at the end the speaker says “brown eyes that loves without a trace of fear/ Beauty so sudden for that time of year” (lines 13-14). This shows the rise of the African American race, and their fight against racism. The author used mood, tone and

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

The author uses the poems structure and stanzas to help get her point across. The poem is composed of four stanzas with a total of 25 lines. Each stanza signifies a different part of the child’s life. The stanzas have irregular lengths and structures. The numbers of lines in each stanza vary from five to seven. Piercy separates the pieces of the story by stanzas to tell the girls story so the audience could see how she was treated since birth. For instance the first stanza talks about her birth and adolescent years, while the third and forth stanzas talk about the end of her life.

The poem seems to be narrative.  It conveys not only a story about his daughter, but a story of life, and paints distinctive images in the reader’s mind.

Nature is calm and serene, while this boy’s life has changed in a matter of seconds from living to dead in a tragic event. The end-stopped lines and enjambments are used very well in the remainder of the poem.

In the next stanza, the line "Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay", the poet is now using imagery with the waters, however it can also be a metaphorical representation of life due to

The structure of the poem resembles the form of a conversation between a mother and her son. It is free verse and written in the vernacular, which means that it mimic the patterns of a speech and diction of a conversation.

Then, Williams finds a way to change the depressing mood of his poem by using specific words to convey feelings of hope. He does this in his fourth stanza with the lines: “Lifeless in appearance, sluggish/dazed spring approaches” (L14-15). Williams is saying that the plants, the trees, and the vines only appear to be dead, but they are not. Once again imagery is being used here. Also, what is going to save this otherwise seemingly desolate land is the approaching spring; “sluggish” and “dazed” as it may be, it is imminent – life is forthcoming. Williams also proffers up more hope with the lines: “One by one objects are defined/rooted, they/grip down and begin to awaken” (L22,26-27).

Despite the flowing syntax, the poem has a clear and predictable structure to replicate the persona’s calm familiarity with experiencing and answering to “storms” in their life. It is interesting to note that even though parlous weather is on its way, there is a lack of panic, chaos, and anomalies in the structure of the poem. There continues to be seven lines in each stanza throughout the piece;