Letters From Yorkshire

• ‘In February, digging his garden, planting potatoes’


  Pathetic fallacy of cold weather. Alliteration suggesting the enjoyment in his work.
• ‘he saw the first lapwings return and came indoors to write to me, his knuckles singing/as they reddened in the warmth.’


  Sight of birds show the change in season which he wants to share with her as he knows she’ll appreciate it. Personification reflects his excitement to write a letter to her, they’re not burning but ‘singing’ from friction of writing so quickly and excitedly’. Also suggests he writes to her regularly if hes writing about this small change. Enjambment onto second stanza. Red has connotations of romance hinting it is a romantic relationship.
• ‘It’s not romance, simply how things are.’


  She is perhaps reminding herself that they’re not together.
• ‘You out there, in the cold, seeing the seasons/turning,’


  Direct address with personal pronoun ‘you’ shows closeness of relationship. Sibilance suggests she sees her friends life as romantic. Caesura shows change in tone and feelings. Enjambent showing literal season change.
• ‘me with my heartful of headlines/feeding words onto a blank screen’


  Alliteration contrasts planting potatoes as she mocks her work. The screen isn’t actually ’blank’ but doesn‘t have any meaning to her and empty.
• ‘Is your life more real because you dig and sow?’


  Rhetorical question shows she isn’t satisfied with her work. Hint of jealousy as his work is meaningful and fulfilling whereas hers isn’t. Also concludes her point of the poem. Perhaps she misses her lifestyle in Yorkshire where she could farm but now that she lives in London she is unable to. Her lifestyle is less free and artificial which she dislikes. Only stanza without enjambment onto next showing her change in feelings as she doubts herself while the other stanzas are admiring her friends work.
• ‘You wouldn’t say so, breaking ice on a waterbutt,/clearing a path through the snow’


  She answers her own question using her friends voice. Verbs ‘breaking‘ and ‘clearing’ are active highlighting his work is normal for him and doesn’t see it the same way she does.
• ‘Still, its you who sends me word of that other world/pouring air and light into an envelope’


  Metaphor describes how different Yorkshire life is to London life. Metaphor of ‘pouring’ highlights how her friends life in Yorkshire feels real, giving her hope. She relies on his letters to feel connected to Yorkshire as ‘air’ and ‘light’ are associated with life.
• ‘So that at night, watching the same news in different houses, our souls tap out messages across the icy miles’


  Watching ‘same news’ suggest that at the end of the day their lives aren’t so different. Noun ‘soul’ shows their close friendship as their letters provide a meaningful connection as they affect each other. ‘Icy miles’ shows pain and discomfort she feels by the distance between her and Yorkshire.
• who wrote Letters From Yorkshire?

  Maura Dooley
• Where did Dooley grow up and live?

  Born in Cornwall, grew up in Bristol. Lived in Yorkshire (countryside) then moved to London. So poem may be from personal experience.
• What is the rhyme scheme + rhythm + structure?

  Irregular rhythm and scheme with enjambment and unrhymed tercets. Which suggests flow of continual and immediate thought. End stopped lines create moment of deeper reflection, questioning own life choices.