Prayer (Carol Anne Duffy) - analysis
Appunti in inglese (3 pagine formato pdf)
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer utters itself.
So, a woman will lift her head from the sieve of her hands and stare at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift. Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth enters our hearts, that small familiar pain; then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth in the distant Latin chanting of a train. Pray for us now. Grade I piano scales console the lodger looking out across a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls a child's name as though they named their loss. Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer - Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.
LAYOUT:
There are 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a couplet. The length of the poem is in contrast with shortness of the title.
SOUNDS:
Sounds are soft: there are lots of alliterations of the letter ”S” (some, days, itself, sieve, hands, stare…) and “W” (woman, will, we, not, town…) and “T” (lift, gift, night, truth, then, stock, still, train…). Rhymes are regular (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)
POEMS VS IMAGE:
There is a contrast between light and dark. The prayer is like a gift, the faith as a present.
LAYOUT:
There are 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a couplet. The length of the poem is in contrast with shortness of the title.
SOUNDS:
Sounds are soft: there are lots of alliterations of the letter ”S” (some, days, itself, sieve, hands, stare…) and “W” (woman, will, we, not, town…) and “T” (lift, gift, night, truth, then, stock, still, train…). Rhymes are regular (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)
POEMS VS IMAGE:
There is a contrast between light and dark. The prayer is like a gift, the faith as a present.