Duffy's 'Rapture': Rapture

Q: What poetic form does Rapture take?

The poem is a modern sonnet, a 14-line form that disregards traditional conventions and contains no stanzas.

What does the subversion of the traditional sonnet form imply?

It may symbolize paroxysm, sudden emotional outbursts, or the loss of self through unification. The subversion also asserts the legitimacy and inherent value of her love.

: How does Rapture compare to the poem You?

Both explore the dismantlement of convenience and the dangers of love. They use nature to emphasize love as unbidden and uncontrollable.

What are the central themes in Rapture?

Monotony, the intense passion of love, and release from reality to an ethereal plane. Duffy describes love as a transcendent and intensely passionate experience that liberates her from life's monotony.

What poetic form does Rapture take?

The poem is a modern sonnet, a 14 line form that disregards traditional conventions and contains no stanzas.

What does the subversion of the traditional sonnet form imply?

It may symbolize paroxysm, sudden emotional outbursts, or the loss of self through unification. The subversion also asserts the legitimacy and inherent value of her love.

How does Rapture compare to the poem You?

Both explore the dismantlement of convenience and the dangers of love. They use nature to emphasize love as unbidden and uncontrollable.

What similarities exist between Rapture and The Love Poem?

Both use a lexical field of writing and intertextual references

How does Duffy use religious imagery in Rapture?

Duffy uses this imagery to portray love as a spiritually transcendent experience that elevates her beyond mortal constraints.

What is the significance of associating love with rapture?

It elevates love to a divine and extraordinary status, presenting it as something beyond ordinary human experience.

How does Duffy use rapture to address societal and moral constraints?

By associating her relationship with the rapture, a deeply Christian concept, Duffy asserts the legitimacy and profundity of her love, challenging heteronormative and religious norms.

What does the simile "unstrung pearls" symbolize?

It suggests liberation from societal expectations regarding love and intimacy. Pearls, often symbols of religious piety and purity, being unstrung signify freedom from these constraints.

How is love presented as a force of nature in Rapture?

The birds symbolize the narrator's desires, emphasizing that love is uncontrollable and natural. This reinforces the idea that love transcends societal and religious constraints.

Why does Duffy depict love as uncontrollable?

To counter views that homosexuality is a moral failing, presenting love as an innate, natural force beyond human control.

Thought of by you all day, I think of you. Q: What literary technique is used in this line?

Chiasmus highlights the mutual affection between the narrator and the beloved, with the parallelism emphasizing their shared love.

The birds sing in the shelter of a tree. Q: What do the birds symbolize?

The birds symbolize the narrator’s hopes and desires, which are natural and uncontrolled. The “shelter of a tree” suggests the protection of comfort and safety.

Above the prayer of rain, unacred blue, not paradise, goes nowhere endlessly. Q: How does this line combine religious imagery with existential tone?

The metaphor of “prayer of rain” expresses longing, while the “unacred blue” evokes spiritual transcendence. The despondent tone reflects the narrator’s sense of purgatory in the absence of love.

queuing for death? It seems nothing will shift the pattern of our days, alter the rhyme we make with loss to assonance with bliss. Q: What is the significance of the lexical field of writing?

Terms like “rhyme” and “assonance” metaphorically represent the monotony of life. Writing mirrors the narrator’s attempt to make sense of her emotions.

Then love comes, like a sudden flight of birds from earth to heaven after rain. Q: What imagery is used to describe love’s arrival?

Love is likened to birds soaring from earth to heaven, suggesting a transcendent experience akin to the rapture.

Your kiss, recalled, unstrings, like pearls, this chain of words. Q: What does the imagery of "unstrung pearls" convey?

It symbolizes liberation from societal constraints and the narrator’s connection to their beloved, emphasizing freedom and intimacy.

‘Thought of by you all day, I think of you.’ - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Chiasmus, inverted parallelism

The birds sing in the shelter of a tree.’ - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Pluralised nouns

The birds sing in the shelter of a tree.’ - What do the birds symbolise?

 the hopes and furtive desires felt by the narrator

The birds sing in the shelter of a tree.’ - How is love presented in this line?

Love is presented as a force of nature, uncontrolled and unbidden.

Thought of by you all day, I think of you. - What literary allusion is being used here?

Elizabeth Browning's - Sonnet  29

Thought of by you all day, I think of you. - Why is this literary allusion being made?

She emphasises the timeless nature of their love by recalling and using a traditional romance poet

‘Above the prayer of rain, unacred blue,’ - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Religious imagery

How does it happen that our lives can drift far from ourselves, while we stay trapped in time, queuing for death? - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Rhetorical question

It seems nothing will shift the pattern of our days, alter the rhyme we make with loss to assonance with bliss. - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Lexical Field of writing

recalled, unstrings, like pearls, this chain of words. - What linguistic or literary techniques are being used in the text highlighted bold?

Simile