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Greensleeves by Alan Spence

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Greensleeves by Alan Spence "Greensleeves" by Alan Spence is a short story describing the life of an elderly lady living alone on the top floor of high rise flats in Glasgow. Spence creates a character readers feel sympathy for through isolation and lonliness, themes that run prominently throughout the story. The title of the story - Greensleeves - is significant in developing the story.The elderly lady hears the song playing on an ice cream van, but it's not as pleasant as she remembers. "She could only just recognise the tune for what it had once been. Not that coarse parody, stilted and mechanical, a tin brashness, a gaudiness of noise." Unpleasant and irritating sounds and noises suggest the lady's discomfort, as if the song was …show more content…

'Grey' emphasises the gloom surrounding the area and scene, while 'drizzling' and 'wasteground' hint that she is having no progress in life no matter how she tries. Further isolating her from the rest of the building, it finally collapses and remnants of the inside of her home can be seen. "And where the fireplace had once been was the back of a blackened hearth and a broken chimney and a line of soot

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