June 2017 - The bonds between parents and children in 'When six O'Clock comes and Another Day has Passed' by Kathryn Simmons and 'Genetics' by Sinéad Morrissey

Introduction to Genetics

Both poems use a narrator who talks about their loved ones and their relationship with them using a nostalgic and often hopeful tone. However, Morrissey uses the juxtaposing imagery of separation and unification in order to explore the relationship between a child and their parents after divorce and Simmonds uses the juxtaposing imagery of biological nature and man-made items of childhood to reflect the close relationship that the parent and child share

P1 - intense physical connection

"my parents made me by my hands"
1) Parallelism= similar ideas repeated
2) Hand imagery as a motif acts as a desperate attempt to maintain relationship between parents and she's connected to both parents physically
3) her physical body connects her parents
4) she finds joy in her parents' union and "marriage" even though they're "repelled to separate lands"

"recently surged through womb swell"
1) enjambment with swell on a line on its own
2) "swell" - reflects use of time in poem as speaker's pregnancy was before (pain but also getting bigger which also links to speaker getting sad at her child getting bigger) when they're was a physical connection between the speaker and her daughter
3) personification with "surfed" emphasizes the physicality of the bond between parent and child as the "blue eyes" reflect the the sea and surfing

P2 - use of childhood sayings reflects the bond between parent and child which reflect the passing of time either looking back or looking forward

"a chapel where a steeple stands"
1) allusion to 'here's the church, here's the steeple' childhood song - action of putting hands together to create a church directly links to a child unifying "their marriage"
2) personification of "stands" reflects strength as the chapel still exists even after time and the separation of the parents
3) "chapel" > church is important because it's more intimate (close bond with child max parents) but it's less recognised as being in a wedding so marriage is unusual from the start
4) rhyme sequence of "separate lands" "steeple lands" "skin's demands" reflects a journey as the speaker has a relationship with her parents even after they separated

"we stop half-heartedly row, rowing"
1) allusion to 'row, row, row your boat' childhood song - action reflects hard work of moving forward in life which links to speaker's fear of life continuing
2) future nostalgia of this moment
3) alliteration with "half-heartedly" sad a slowly disappearing childhood