Keeping Orchids Analysis Before you look at the

‘Keeping Orchids’

Analysis Before you look at the poem, bullet point the connotations the title of the poem suggests to you. What do you think it will be about? What do you think the key theme/message will be? • Highlight and identify the key poetic techniques used (word choice, imagery, repetition, tone etc. ) • Analyse how these techniques are used to convey the speaker’s personality, views on meeting mother, effects on her life/thoughts etc.

Opens with a The orchids my mother gave me when we first met sense of are still alive, twelve days later. Although dislocation which confuses some of the buds remain closed as secrets. /bafflesreader– Twice since I carried them back, like a baby in a shawl, has just met mother for first time. • Enjambment used throughout mirrors sense of dislocation/fragmentation between speaker and mother as does Entices us caesura (pause) between lines 2 and 3. Highlights her– we want to find thoughtfulness, about the orchids which in turn, reflect her views on out why/what meeting was like etc. A • Simile: idea of concealment, mystery, something impenetrable. truth that’s unknown. Reinforces the symbolism of the meeting (not all was revealed/explained - suggests speaker’s dissatisfaction) • ‘like a baby in a shawl’ Simile: suggestion of care, protection, love. Ironic? Alludes to mother abandoning her/looking for a place to put her? Symbolises lack of belonging/no place for them which again, links to her feelings on r. ship with mother: confused/lost/adrift.

from her train station to mine, then home. Twice since then the whole glass carafe has crashed falling over, unprovoked, soaking my chest of drawers. All the broken waters. I have rearranged • Idea of separation – ‘her’ and ‘mine’. Suggests/symbolises distance between them. • Also symbolises confusion: no clear path; everything is disjointed/incomplete. Suggests lack of practicality/awkwardness of gift (again link to nature of meeting. ) • Repetition of ‘Twice’ reflects this + suggests frustration of having to repeat process. • Onomatopoeia – loud, abrupt, aggression of movement – shocks her/jolts her out of contemplation? Irritates her? Like the meeting? Symbolises broken nature of their r. ship. Sense of discontent pervades poem. Long vowels/assonance slow down rhythm – almost like sees it happening in slow motion but still can’t prevent the outcome.

the upset orchids with troubled hands. Even after that the closed ones did not open out. The skin shut like an eye in the dark; the closed lid. Twelve days later, my mother’s hands are all I have. • Transferred epithets to reflect her feelings. Her emotions are so powerful they are transferring on to the flowers/hands. Suggests grief meeting has caused her. Finding it difficult to come to terms with. • Word choice – disappointment flowers won’t open their buds; again, links to disappointment that all was not revealed/explained ‘open’ in meeting ( see line 3 also. ) No outward show of emotion – distance between them still exists. Word Choice of ‘shut’ and ‘closed’ emphasises this. • Simile: ‘like an eye’ –; again compared to a human. ‘Closed’ eyes and ‘dark’ = confusion, lack of sight/awareness/ understanding. • Twelve days later and still thinking of meeting. Only gain (‘all I have’) is realising they have same hands. Comforting?

Her face is fading fast. Even her voice rushes through a tunnel the other way from home. I close my eyes and try to remember exactly: a paisley pattern scarf, a brooch, a navy coat. • Memory of the visit is fading; but also idea of her limited inheritance (shared hands. ) Alliteration (speeds up rhythm ) conveys this too. Only 12 days have passed but she is forgetting her voice/appearance etc. • Distance between them is again emphasised by train imagery (compare with line 5. ) Always heading in different directions: even mum’s voice is trying to escape from her. Idea of the voice being warped in the tunnel – distortion. Can’t recall her voice clearly; it’s now muffled/unclear as memory fades. • ‘try to remember exactly’ shows she wants to remember mother; she doesn’t want her to disappear. Suggests there will be no more meetings as she is so desperate to recall details. Feels lost/desperate – needs to make it real (link to line 19 – ‘proof of meeting. ) • List of fragments as she remembers them – nothing meaningful/just glimpses which symbolises the meeting only gave her a glimpse into her mother’s character/life.

A digital watch her daughter was wearing when she died. Now they hang their heads, and suddenly grow old – the proof of meeting. Still, her hands, awkward and hard to hold • ‘her daughter’ – Kay is, of course, ‘her daughter’ too but there is a sense she doesn’t see it like this. There has been another daughter – who lived a whole lifetime unknown. Suggests detachment. • Blending of past and present – suggests confusion: nothing is clear to the speaker. Even time/subject is confused (‘her daughter’ – refers to mother; ‘they’ refers to flowers. ) Is she deliberately trying to mix the two? Trying to link her past to the present/future? • Ambiguous imagery: ‘hang their heads’ – shame? Guilt? Idea of decay – ‘suddenly grow old’ – flowers are fading; memory of meeting is fading; has meeting aged speaker too? • Suggests she is reaching out to close gap between them but mum makes it difficult to do so: ‘awkward and hard to hold’

fold and unfold a green carrier bag as she tells the story of her life. Compressed. Airtight. A sad square, then a crumpled shape. A bag of tricks. Her secret life – a hidden album, a box of love letters. • Assonance and repetition – emphasises mum’s unease/fidgeting/folding bag. Sense of guilt as she tells Kay what happened? All belongings which link to Kay fit in one carrier. The fact these possessions are kept inside a ‘carrier bag’ suggests lack of worth to mum. • Minor sentences – highlight again the brevity of meeting/mother’s explanations/lack of depth given to her story etc. Idea much is left locked away/not to be revealed. ‘Airtight’ suggests reasons for giving speaker away seem convincing as if mum has carefully thought them out. Implies speaker sees them as an excuse/not true. Is mum looking to be forgiven and thus, doesn’t fully explain what happened? • ‘bag of tricks’ – alludes to speaker’s doubts in story (trick. ) Alludes to prostitution? Continued idea of deceit: ‘secret’ ‘hidden. ’ • Contrasts with ‘box of love letters’ – suggests abundance and that mum had real/lasting connection with father?

A door opens and closes. Time is outside waiting. I catch the draught in my winter room. Airlocks keep the cold air out. Boiling water makes flowers live longer. So does cutting the stems with a sharp knife. • Symbolises finality/closure. Speaker thought this would be a new beginning (‘door opens’) but discovers the opposite is true (‘closes. ’) Realises her life will continue and ‘is outside waiting. ’ Acceptance? (Compare with ‘Lucozade’. ) • ‘draught’ , ‘winter’, ‘cold’ symbolise coldness of meeting and how this has tainted her life: the cold pervades her home/environment. • Preventative measures to survive/prolong lives of flowers. Speaker seeks ways to deal with situation/meeting. Shows she is back in control. Yet, also symbolises her anger/frustration: these are aggressive methods which suggest aggression (‘boiling’, ‘cutting’, ‘sharp knife’. ) • All possible causes of pain (link to meeting) but they prolong the life of the flowers. Is this the same with the adoption – painful but the right thing to do? • Symbolism of ‘cutting’ – umbilical cord (link to ‘broken waters’). Cutting ties to mother? Pessimistic/optimistic end to poem? She will survive/cope? Will never see mum again?

Summary • Symbolism of the orchids – idea of a rarefied flower; difficult to raise and to nurture. Need special growing conditions. • Title parallels the adoption. But in this case, Kay attempts to keep and nurture the challenging orchids that refuse to open. • Written over 14 couplets – structure is very formal and precise. Pared back to bare bones almost/fragmented/disjointed – mirrors nature of relationship. • Focuses on a hugely emotional moment/topic but actually about emptiness. Stripped back and emotionless. Coldness of the voice? • Seems more about displacement/detachment. objects than emotions –