the cord

• Duffy’s ‘The Cord’ explores the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter, symbolized by the umbilical cord, in a journey of growth.
• stanza 1: ‘they’, the unfamiliar doctors being presented as separated from the cohesive family unit. ‘they’ who ‘cut the cord’ indicates external forces separating mother and daughter, this being extrapolated into Ella wanting to leave home later in the poem.

  brutality of this first image is furthered through the consonance of /c/ across ‘cut the cord’, the harsh sound penetrating the verse to rally the depiction of the severing of their physical connection.
• stanza 1: personification to the ‘Great Forest’, the first element of mythical language being employed here.she cares deeply for Ella, wanting even the first point of connection to be honoured. There is something poetic about returning to nature, Duffy furthering this idea later in the poem with images of ‘birds’ and ‘stars’ leading Ella.
• stanza 2 and 3 semantics of mythically.Ella’s young age semantics, images of ‘princess’ and ‘holden spinning wheel’ playing into the narrative of fairytales, triple repetition of a question, ‘wheel?’, ‘silver?’, ‘real?’ elusive nature of the cord – represents their connection taking on mythical proportions. image of it ‘hidden/in the roots of an ancient oak’ Duffy is narrating a fairy tale to Ella, creating a story that she can actively take part in and enjoy. Ella’s changing perception of the ‘cord’ demonstrates her own ageing assumes that it ‘was made of rope’, d
• stanza 4 verb ‘stared’ Ella begins to obsess over the ‘cord’. image of the ‘rooks…like black unreadable books’ could show that she is still young, is what drives her to explore further, embracing nature and ‘following a bird’ into the forest.
• stanza 5 enjambment reflect Ella’s ‘hunt for her cord’. ownership of ‘her cord’ suggests that Ella has taken the symbol upon herself, seeking the original thing that connected her to her mother. The simplicity of how she is travelling, ‘on foot to the forest’ is depicted through the method of movement she uses, ‘on foot’, and also the use of fricative sounds across this phrase. The fricative /f/ creates a sense of movement, air passing through the mouth when uttered, reflecting Ella’s journey into the forest.
• stanza 6 image of Ella ‘following a bird’ wiser/a symbol of freedom, Ella finally moving out into the world . ‘one huge darkness’ symbolizing all of the evil in the world. Duffy is worried about letting her daughter freely experience life, mother always be there for her, ‘stars’ that ‘were her mother’s eyes’. Stars traditionally travellers to guide their paths,