Keyways - Owen Sheers

structure

a narrative love poem that consists of six quintains on free verse.

how does the poem fit into the rest of collection?

the poem starts with an ending, a separation at a time when cutting keys if often at the beginning of relationships. this irony is congruent to the collection.

in the first stanza, what language is used to show matter of fact, blunt tone?

monosyllabic and plosive words like "cut", "flat" " out"

in the second stanza, how does the emotion intrude. what does this quote reveal?

the hot day outside presses to the shop window glass

- sense of claustrophobia is created, an uncomftable and trapped situation. sense of reluctance

what quote describes the key and lock complex? where it is in the poem structurally?

waiting your impression, the milling and grooves of moments in time, until our keyways would fit

- central image is central to the poem.

- suggests he is passive as he waits for her to change him.

what quote shows their pragmatic love? how is this type of cohesion significant? what technique is used to reflect this?

our breaths/ rising and falling in unison as we listened to the Messiah

- suggests an harmony with the mind, a spiritual cohesion.

- the enjambment reinforces the lack of discord that was once in their relationship

what quote suggests a damaging effect of a kind of "perfect love". what technique is this, and what is sheers trying to say? what question doe sheer raise about interdependency?

like a pair of Siamese twins sharing one lung

- a simile suggests a disconnect between memories and realities. there is a suggestion of damage and disfigured love, and maybe futility. the twins wouldn't survive, neither could this relationship. were they too interdependent?

what structural feature increases in stanza five amongst images of the closeness of their bodies. what could this suggest?

caesura in "again it was coming home, my stomach, the small of your back,"

- could reflect although their bodies were separate by the caesura, their unision is represented by the stanza

- also could show a frustration as stanza ends in two questions, creating a jarring shift in a tone

what is a critic opinion in stanza 6 about the metaphor of unpicking the problem in their relationship? half-rhyme.

the metaphor becomes aural as well as visual as the reader waits for "a click, that never came". the half-rhyme between click and unpick brings us back to that futility.

what is significant of the ending of the poem? language and structure?

the last stanza is a couplet and bring us to an image of locks. it is a paradox, and Sheers recollects perhaps the paradoxical nature of break-ups, humans get so close to one another, but also struggle to break up.

what does it question on identity?

in relationships, the merging of identities - is this dangerous?

overall summary

In ‘Keyways’, Sheers portrays himself and his ex-girlfriend after breaking up, waiting for a set of keys to be cut so that he can go and retrieve his belongings from her flat. The poem takes place after the relationship has ended, and has a somber tone throughout. While waiting in line, Sheers thinks back over his relationship, using the extended metaphor of a key being cut to represent the impact of moments of his relationship upon him. The final failure to connect, the key that doesn’t turn in the lock, is a symbol of the relationship breaking down. The poem is typical of Sheers, intertwining themes of relationships, and memory seamlessly.

structure

Owen Sheers Splits ‘Keyways’ into 7 stanzas. The first 6 stanzas are all five lines long, with the final stanza being two lines. This switch to a final couplet gives the poem a sense of closure, reflecting on the end of his relationship with a sad, yet certain, perspective.