From The Antique

• Structure

  • iambic tetrameter/ regular rhyme scheme - societal constraints for women / low diction - blandness of a woman's world
• 'It's a weary life, it is, she said":

  • 'third person/ shift of narrative voice + caesura - breathy - exhaustion - isolation of women / definite - unchanging nature of patriarchal society / end stop - the constraints which hold back the feminine voice'
• 'Doubly blank in a woman's lot:'

  • 'hyperbole - impossible hollowness / pagan idea of luck / juxtaposition (feminine vs there masculine sport of betting) - women's inability to compare to men and consequently their inferior status -/ plural - objectification of women'
• 'I wish and I wish I were a man:'

  • 'juxtaposition of perspectives - differences between women / diacope + rule of three - desperation / seperation of women'
• 'Or, better then any being, were not:'

  • 'nihilistic approach / alliteration - inherent desire'
• 'Were nothing at all in all the world,'

  • ''he made man in his own image' Genesis / 'for you are dust and to dust you will return' / 'i am the way the truth the light' - the worth of man is dependent on man's faith in them almighty'
• 'Not a body and not a soul:':

  • 'juxtaposition - loss of faith - rejection of the soul / simultaneous rejection of earthly desires'
• 'Not so much as a grain of dust': ''for you are dust and to dust you will return' - genesis / - loss of faith + spite of God / our worthlessness without God / anaphora'
• 'Or a drop of water from pole to pole.': 'Juxtaposition within the natural world - no safe haven - rejection of God's love / repetition'
• 'Still the world would wag on the same,': 'alliteration + metaphor - joyful indifference'
• 'Still the seasons go and come:': 'sibilance - garden of Eden - sin of the earth realm'
• 'Blossoms bloom as in days of old,': 'alliteration - the harmony of earth / irony - her distaste for the earth's joy - man's inherent jealous nature - original sin'
• 'Cherries ripen and wild bees hum.': 'full stop / juxtaposition of senses - seasonal links - personal separation from the beauty of nature and by extension the joy of life'
• 'None would miss me in all the world,': 'definite - more grounded / hyperbole / alliteration - emphasis on true desire - inherent will of man / low diction'
• 'How much less would care or weep:'

  
  

  'revelations 21 'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more' / love vs sorrow - juxtaposition'
• 'I should be nothing, while all the rest':

  
  

  'moral obligation /enjambement / caesura / juxtaposition of perspectives - isolation - link to socal position'
• 'Would wake and weary and fall asleep.': 'alliteration + rule of three + syndetic listing / cyclical nature of life - soul sleep / personal struggles of depression / alliteration of 'w' - sense of weeping - melancholy and depression'
• • Summary - the plight of women regardless of class 
• Perspective - that of an nihilistic ancient woman possible reflection the consequences of paganism