THE JEWELLERY MAKER

• The jewellery maker

  no name = their profession is a defining part of their identity + a marginalised voice- they have no personal importance apart from their job, but the article “the” id ironic as this suggests importance
• each day after sunrise he walks to the workshop- like his father before him and his father too

  repeated action = dedication but also monotonous with limited options.

  linked to past generations- emphasied by punctuation
• he sits straight-backed lays out pointed tools the way a surgeon might- neat as soldiers

  adjective “straight backed” = focus, dedication + precision. Comparison to a “surgeon” = same level of detail +skill but exposes lack of respect + value placed on jewellery maker in comparison

  “solders” contrasts to natural images = tension in poem + suggestions of having to follow orders rather than be creative
• under deft fingers gold butterflies dance; flowers bloom; silvery moons wax + wane, then wax again ; bright dragonflies flap two pairs of wings

  adjective “deft” builds on precision and skill.

  list of verbs and natural imagery = creations are full of life

  jewellery maker has control over nature p godlike + juxtaposes with lack of agency in wider society

  Caesura =forces us to pause + feel wonder + awe at skill
• a plain gold band, worn thin

  he imagined the women who will wesr

  what he had made, clear eyed , bird boned, unlined skin warming the metal his hands caress

  wifes simples clothing + jewellery = poor. Ironic the jewellery maker creates valuable items, but cant afford them

  “plain gold band” contrasts with wealthy women who buy their jewellery

  They are delicate + fragile “bird boned” + contrast highlights inequality in society

  verb “caress” = active love put into creations vs passive wearers

  Heat “warming” appears through poem = creative force but damaging + anger at his lack of value in society despite skill
• themes

  rebellion + revolution-century later

  belonging + connection-lines written

  culture/lang-wider view

  family + heritage- wider view

  class-wider view