stanza 1

• "I say her phrases to myself in my head"

  • First-person narrative/possessive language provides an early indication of the mother’s importance/the bond between mother & speaker.
• "under the shallows of my breath"

  • Metaphorical connotations of anxiety: she longs to hear the familiar words.  Word choice “shallows” has an obvious connotation with water.
  • “my breath” suggests her mother – or her mother’s words – are integral to her very existence. 
• "restful shapes moving."

  • Oxymoron: reminder that she is on a train and of the flickering images that are passing by the window. These contrast the peace of the carriage but also contradict each other directly. Restful connotes peace, and moving connotes being restless. Suggests the speaker is unsettled by this process of leaving home.
  • Could potentially represent the memories of her childhood she is leaving behind.
• "The day and ever. The day and ever."

  • The italicised final line is the climax: we are finally privy to the words the speaker is thinking of – Scots dialect for ‘since’: links the speaker to her mother and to the wider theme of change/ passage of time.
  • Italics + Repetition: distinguishes this as her mother’s voice which she can hear in her head, reflects the rhythm of the train and how focused the speaker is on this voice. She is in tune with this rhythm as the phrase becomes a mantra, an anchor connecting the speaker with cultural roots.