Whitsun - time - 7th sunday after easter - bank holiday - popular wedding date.
narrative persona - outsider, judging
Stanza 1 - leaving the platform late
Stanza 2 - continuing the journey - all towns look the same
Stanza 3 - persona starts to notice the wedding parties
Stanza 4 - persona more curious, more critical towards the party
Stanza 5 - end of wedding days
Stanza 6 - heading towards the city
Stanza 7 - persona commenting on all the people who were married that day but yet will never meet
Stanza 8 - the changes of life, journey, crossroads.
poetic techniques - alliteration, 1st person, hyperbole, enjambment, caesura, zeugma, imagery, juxtaposition, vernacular speech.
themes - journeys, love, marriage, life. the persona focuses more on the people than the landscape. criticizes them, their outfits, feels he is better than them, doesn't understand marriage.
"a religious wounding", idea of a crossroads "bright knots of rail"
Helpful notes. Your picture looks a bit too "old". Larking was writing in the 1960s, not the 1860s!! You need some photos of 60s weddings!
ReplyDelete