1. Form, Structure, Tone & Mood
1.1. Consists of 8 4-lined stanzas (quatrains)
1.1.1. Gives poem sense of regularity within the chaos of the poem. Lines are irregular in rhyme and structure, representing the fluid rigidity of memory and the mother's attempts to calm her children.
1.2. Free-verse and has no rhyme scheme
1.2.1. Makes the poem seem chaotic and somewhat unrestrained
1.3. Uses "volta"- a shift or turn in the poem - and changes from past to present in Stanza 7
1.4. Conversational tone
1.5. A lyrical, almost autobiographical poem
2. Literary Devices
2.1. Alliteration
2.1.1. "Running riot" (Stanza 1, Line 2)
2.1.2. "dear... drought... dams... dry" (Stanza 2, Lines 5-6)
2.1.3. "Scattered sisters" (Stanza 8, Line 29)
2.1.4. "lovely sin, lolling luxuriant" (Stanza 6, Lines 21-22)
2.2. Assonance
2.2.1. "each... weeks" (Stanza 4, Line 15)
2.2.2. "Fat brass taps" (Stanza 6, Line 23)
2.2.3. "Compliant co-conspirators" (Stanza 6, Line 24)
2.3. Sibilance - a hissing quality to the sound
2.3.1. "She saw... snapping... straps... spilling... sums... shopping" (Stanza 3, Lines 11-12)
2.3.2. "Skipped... swiped... she... stole..." (Stanza 5)
2.4. Asyndeton - leaving out conjunctions (and, but, because)
2.4.1. "Shopping list for aspirin, porridge, petrol, bread." (Stanza 3-4, Lines 12-13)
2.5. Juxtaposition
2.5.1. "running riot to my mother’s quiet despair" (Stanza 1, Line 2)
2.5.2. "lovely sin," (oxymoron) (Stanza 6, Line 21)
2.6. Personification
2.6.1. "our old compliant co-conspirators" (Stanza 6, Line 24)
2.7. Simile
2.7.1. "Like Mommy's smile" (Stanza 2, Line 7)
2.8. Metaphor
2.8.1. "it was a clasp to keep us all from chaos." (Stanza 3, Line 10)