anon

poem meaning/purpose?

paying tribute to women denied recognition by society

structural significance?

decreasing line length reflects women being reduced 

significance of the pronoun ‘she’ and lack of a specific name?

reflects all women

tech + significance of ‘maybe nurse, a nanny, maybe a nun’? 2 points

• alliteration - adds ironic humor

• suggests society trivializes these jobs despite their importance

meaning behind ‘she’d forget who she was'?

reflects women’s collective memory being erased by patriarchy 

techniques shown in the repetition of the word ‘anon’? 2 points

• refrain

• anaphora

‘a girl i met was willing to bet that she still lived on…but had packed it all in’ meaning?

she convinces herself she is fulfilled despite abandoning her dreams - compliance to traditional ideology 

tech + significance of ‘the best verb, the right noun’?

metaphor for the girl’s ideal careers she abandoned

significance of ‘anon’ repeating in the middle of the second stanza?

reflects the reality of her wasted dreams

‘a woman i knew kept her skull on a shelf in the room’ techs + significance? 3 points

• metaphor for lost talent through the years

• reference to hamlet where skulls reflect the meaning of life 

• gothic image suggests serious nature of the message

what theme does the repetition of the term ‘anon’ reinforce?

loss of identity

‘[the skull] cleared its throat as though it has something to get off its chest’. significance?

reflects desire for acknowledgement and freedom

‘how she passed on her pen like a baton’ techs + significance? 2 points

• simile - relates talent to sports 

• batons have ironically phallic implications

significance of ‘hey nonny’? 2 points

• reference to shakespeare

• implies it’s foolish to ignore women

significance of the final ‘anon’?

cyclical - women are still ignored today