Nat 5: Jackie Kay revision- 'Divorce', 'Bed', 'MGH', 'Gap Year', 'Keeping Orchids' and 'Lucozade'

In the exam you will be given a whole text or part of a text (poem) from the set writers.

You will be expected to:


- answer questions on the text you have studied

and

-be able to relate the ideas and the language of that text to at least one other of the texts you have studied.

This part of the paper is worth 20 marks
•12 for questions on the printed text
•And 8 marks for a comparison with one of the other texts.


We will study 6 poems over the course of S3 and S4 by Jackie Kay:

Keeping Orchids

Divorce

Bed

Gap Year

Lucozade

My Grandmother’s Houses

One of the main ways all 6 poems will connect is through theme. 

One of the main themes that connects the six poems is that of FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS.

The poems explore inter-generational relationships, such as:

- Daughter & mother

- Daughter & birth mother

- Granddaughter & grandmother

- Mother & son

- Daughter & parents.

They can also all be linked through their use of DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE with a specific PERSONA.

Remember:

•The ‘voice’ is the point of view that a poem is seen from, like a narrator or persona (the person speaking!).

•The poems all feature the voice of a female persona (although ‘Lucozade’ is a little more ambiguous).

•This female persona explores family relationships – as a result, all poems offer a thoroughly domestic discourse or series of ideas.

'Divorce'

•Dramatic monologue written in the voice of an adolescent.
•Addressed to her parents, threatening to divorce them.
•Explores themes of generational conflict.
•Light-hearted in tone.

FORM AND STRUCTURE:


The poem is written as a sonnet variation

The poem is written in two 14 lines stanzas, each one with a rhyming couplet (two lines of the same length that rhyme and complete one thought at the end- usually show certainty of mind):


“In this day and age?

I would be better off in an orphanage.”



“and that’s not right.

I will file for divorce in the morning at first light.” 

We could see them as a variation on the sonnet, a form traditionally associated with love poetry.

In using this form, Kay could be commenting ironically on the girl’s situation - it is very much a poem about being ‘out of love’ and severing ties.

Line length

The line length in this poem is also significant. The variation introduced by alternating between short lines and long lines throughout each stanza perhaps reflects the differences and gap in understanding between parents and child.

The brevity of the short lines adds impact to the very forceful statements such as “I cannot suffer”, “I want a divorce”, “You are rough and wild”. This allows them to resonate (evoke a feeling of shared emotion or belief) with the reader.

The effect of the stop-start, rather stilted nature of the lines may suggest to the reader a breakdown in communication. Perhaps this is the true problem the girl has with her parents.

STYLE:

The poem is a dramatic monolgue. We know this because:

1)An audience is silent and implied - the girl is clearly talking to her parents but we do not hear from them.

2)The poet speaks through an assumed voice of a fictional or historical persona explaining their feelings, actions or motives- the voice is clearly that of a young, female teenager and she explains her distress, that she is going to divorce her parents and gives us her motives for doing so.

3)The speaker's words are influenced by a critical situation- The speaker is clearly upset and wants her parents to be better.

4)In the persona’s speech there are clues about their character, the character of their audience, the situation in which it is spoken and the backstory leading to this situation- we are given lots of hints as to the personality of our speaker and her parents. We are also told about past situations/conflicts including these characters.

5)The persona arouses some sympathy- there are times when we may feel sorry for the girl.

6)A specific time and place is apparent- she says that she will divorce her parents in the morning.

7)Argumentative language is used.- the whole poem is an argument with her parents, telling them why she is going to divorce them.

OTHER NOTES:

•This poem is written in the form of an address. The persona (speaker) is addressing the audience (implication is that she is speaking to her parents.)
•The title and first line (before the enjambment) leads us to expect a poem about divorcing parents but it is soon clear that it is a young person who wishes to divorce her parents.
•The dramatic, often comical tone leads us to question how serious the girl’s grievances are or wonder if her histrionics mask a deeper hurt.
•Her vision of the parents she wishes for is lyrical and idealistic, suggesting that in her disappointment with her real parents she is seeking the impossible. There is a wistfulness and longing in the lines “who speak in the soft murmur of rivers” and “sing in the colourful voices of rainbows” which is in strong contrast to the confrontational persona presented in the rest of the poem.
•The girl uses blunt, assertive, uncompromising statements: “I want a divorce”; “I never chose you”; “I don’t want to be your child”; building up to the final climax in the last line, but their force is blunted by the humorous effect of the rhyming of the final couplet.
• The poem is uses various tones throughout- for example, it is dramatic, humorous and unsettling.

TONE:

Divorce’ is about a teenager who wants the power to leave her parents.

It is melodramatic and humorous, but overall there is a serious message about independence and freedom of choice.

The poem carries a hint of teenage melodrama (it is exaggerated / overemotional) in its often absolute and assertive tone.

Some of the lines sound like hurtful words shouted in a childish tantrum: “I cannot suffer / any longer” “I don't want to be your child”

However, stanza two suggests there is a more serious message behind this rather comical tone. There is something poignant (evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret) about the way in which the speaker wants her parents to have faces that “turn / up to the light”, as if her current family lacks honesty and openness.

She adopts a longing tone when she states that she also wants them to

“speak in the soft murmur of rivers / and never shout”.

This implies that perhaps the parents’ relationship is angry and bitter.


The fact that they ‘shout’ is repeated at the end of stanza two. Again, this disturbs the reader, but contrasts with the humorous ending as the teenager adopts ‘adult’ speak:

“I will file for divorce in the morning at first light.”

ANNOTATION:

THEMES

Adolescence/Childhood:

The speaker is clearly a teenager. Her father teases her for being huffy:

“Are you off in the cream puff, Lady Muck?”

This suggests that either she is moody and does not communicate with her parents, or that they fail to take her concerns and emotions seriously.


Tone reflects this theme

The overall tone of the poem is one of melodrama. The speaker exaggerates and complains about a situation that does not appear to be that difficult. This heightened response could be viewed as typical of a teenager at a time in life when parents often seem increasingly embarrassing and irritating.

The predominant use of “I” throughout the poem gives a sense of the teenager’s introversion and self-centredness. This could contribute to a breakdown in communication between her and her family.

The idealised vision of perfect parents in stanza two is naïve and fantastical - as if the speaker is still too young to understand that what she is demanding is impossible and unreal.

References to childhood things- the song ‘I can sing a rainbow’ etc, reinforce this impression of the speaker.

However, behind the humour of this poem, there is a more serious point being made about independence and how/whether young people should be allowed more of a say in decisions that will affect their future.

Write- Repetition of ‘1’ shows introversion and selfishness. Idealised vision of desired parents reveals young age. Reference to childish things.

Family relationships:

Kay explores one of her regular themes, the nature of the parent-child relationship in this poem.

The speaker is annoyed by her parents and wants to be away from them. She feels she is not acknowledged. She is embarrassed and tired of how her father talks to her in a way that shows no understanding of her.

She seeks the ideal and is disappointed when her parents do not fit with her fantasy. Lack of communication seems to be at the heart of this predicament. The speaker is not able to fully explain her difficulties beyond insignificant issues. Hence, she resorts to illusion and exaggerated expressions such as:

“I don’t want to be your child” 

Perhaps her parents do shout too much, but the overall impression is one of teen angst coupled with poor empathy from her family.

The idea of ‘divorcing’ their parents is one that would appeal to many teenagers at some point - due to failures of communication, empathy and attitude. In modern society, when parents divorce, it can often be the case that children are left feeling powerless. In this poem, it is the child who has the power, not the other way round.

AREAS OF COMPARISON_ LINKS TO OTHER POEMS:

‘Divorce and ‘Bed’

Similarity

‘Divorce’ is similar to ‘Bed’. Both are written in dramatic monologue form. Each depicts a strong personality, and both suggest a breakdown in communication feeding resentment between parent(s) and child. In both poems, there is the idea of one party separating from the other.

Comparison

However, in ‘Bed’ the persona is the mother, an older woman, who is discussing her issues with her daughter. In ‘Divorce’ the child wishes to separate from her parents through divorcing them, in ‘Bed’ the mother talks about separating from her daughter in a much more upsetting and permanent manner.

‘Divorce’ and ‘Keeping Orchids’

Similarity- ‘Divorce’ depicts a tension and lack of communication between parent and child which can also be seen in ‘Keeping Orchids’.

The speaker in ‘Divorce’ describes her parents’ annoying habits which upset her. Similarly, in ‘Keeping Orchids’ the mother’s coldness distresses the speaker.

Comparison-In a sense one is a reversal of the other. In ‘Divorce’ the daughter wants to ‘give away’ her parents; while in ‘Keeping Orchids’ the daughter feels she has been rejected by her parents who put her up for adoption.

The tone in each poem contrasts greatly In ‘Divorce’ the speaker is melodramatic. She exaggerates her emotions and concentrates on herself - repeatedly using “I” . In ‘Keeping Orchids’ Kay remains detached. Rather than the speaker talking about herself directly she uses the orchids as a separate image on which to project her emotions.


'BED'

STYLE
'Bed is also written in a dramatic monologue. We know this as:
1)An audience is silent and implied

She uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ throughout, talking about herself- telling her story-although this time, who the audience is is unclear.

2)The poet speaks through an assumed voice of a fictional or historical persona explaining their feelings, actions or motives.

‘the skeleton underneath my night goon’- metaphor implies illness and frailty and further implies that she feels dead already inside. Poem is also written in Scots so infers an old, ill Scottish woman.

3) The speaker's words are influenced by a critical situation.

‘There are things she has to dae fir me, I wish…’-implies that the woman needs support that she wishes she did not need. She is clearly ill and suffering which is why she is speaking.

4) In the persona’s speech there are clues about their character, the character of their audience, the situation in which it is spoken and the backstory leading to this situation.

‘A’ve seen hale generations grow up/and simmer down.’- tells us she has been ill for a long time, Also the word ‘seen’ tells us she is observant/interested in other people.

5) The persona arouses some sympathy

Any line mentioning her illness, age, her broken relationship with her daughter...

6)A specific time and place is apparent
The title tells us that the poem takes place in 'Bed'. There are also references time i.e. 'night'

7) Argumentative language is used. 

Lack of trust between her and her daughter is implied, and the final lines tell us that she wants her daughter to feel guilty about how she has been treated/the breakdown in their relationship.

The dramatic monologue form creates the impression that the character is speaking directly to us. This is made more vivid by the use of Scots, which makes the register more colloquial and expressive.The words are written this way to give us an impression of a realistic character. It is as if we are sitting beside her bed, listening to her relate her story.

 

SUMMARY:

1.Despite the monosyllabic title “Bed”, the focus of this poem is on the speaker/persona -an elderly, bedridden, Scottish woman - who is cared for by her daughter. She seems quite an observant person and there are hints that she was once very sociable within her community.
2.There has been a clear role reversal in this relationship with the daughter now taking care of her mother’s every need. The mother has become the child and the daughter has become like her mother.
3.The speaker acknowledges that she is a burden to this young woman and she seems to feel guilty about this. This is confirmed by the fact that communication between the two has broken down and there are strong ideas about communication conveyed. Obviously, the persona can communicate her feelings quite clearly – the poem evidences this. But with the daughter, there is only the pretence of communication. She seems sad about this, and also resentful.
4.The elderly woman is only able to experience the outside world from her window and bemoans the fact that she is trapped in her bed. The speaker is marginalised – demonstrated clearly in her position at the window. She has access through vision (although even this is limited), but no physical access to the world outside; an invisible barrier. She is both aged and invalided, which is a double marginalisation.

5.She is merely waiting to die and is understandably bitter and resentful as there is nothing she can do to change her situation. She can not reverse time.
6.The speaker is someone we are meant to sympathise although we can also detect her bitterness and anger which many argue affects our sympathy for her. We feel sympathy due to her illness, loneliness, marginalisation and the breakdown of the relationship with her daughter.
7 and 8. Although a very narrowly focused domestic piece – even the title firmly positions it not just in the home/hospice but in a bed, and we only hear one voice, one side of the story – it is vast in its scope of ideas, offering an almost Shakespearean lament on the destruction of beauty by time, our mortality, the changing nature of relationships, the importance of communication etc etc.
9. Note the shift in tone between stanza 7 and 8. Before, the tone is very negative concentrating on the difficulties, the fragilities of such a life. After, it seems more about wisdom and insight; an idea that this is the point of clearest understanding of her predicament and future. The last two stanzas are reflective in tone as the woman contemplates time and how much of it she has left.
10. She considers the effect her death might have on her daughter. She hopes her daughter will feel guilty that she didn’t try harder to mend their relationship.

EVALUATION/THEMATIC CONCERN:
•The poem teaches us what it is like to be old in our society, and tries to help us to understand the humiliation and helplessness one can feel when forced to be dependent on the next generation. It teaches us to understand and to be more empathetic towards the elderly and our elderly relations.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

•Dramatic Monologue
•Scots Language/dialect.
•Ten stanzas of four lines each- 10 quatrains-which creates a tight structure. This could reflect the constrictive life the woman leads confined in bed.

ANNOTATION:

Tone/Style/Voice/Register


Informal register in a conversational tone- makes her realistic and shows that this is a normal situation- could happen to anyone (WILL happen to most)


There are varying tones throughout, including:

Bitterness. Anger. Loneliness. Sadness. Reflection. Nostalgia.

THEMES

Main themes: family relationships, illness and suffering, age- growing old, caring for others, detachment/isolation, mortality…



LINKS TO OTHER POEMS:

'Bed' and 'Divorce'

•There are some similarities in terms of emotions in the relationships and the relationships in both poems are between parent(s) and child, although as the narrator is the child/daughter in ‘Divorce’ it is presented differently.
• Like the mother in ‘Bed’, the child in “Divorce’ feels some sense of frustration and anger at her situation.
•Although the daughter helps her mother in “Bed’, there is a sense that the mother does not fully appreciate being treated like a child and this can be compared to “Divorce’.
•Despite this," Bed’ is much more subtle in its hints at frustration and anger leaving some elements open to interpretation where as in “Divorce’ it is very clear as to how unhappy the young narrator is.

•We may feel more sympathy for the mother in ‘Bed’ than we do for the child in ‘Divorce’ and we are more likely to trust her.

They are both written in a dramatic monologue and are conversational in style.

'Bed' and 'Gap Year’ -

They both describe relationships between parents and children , although GY is much more positive with feelings of pride, admiration and reminiscence about a positive relationship. ‘Bed’ focuses on the closing phases of a person's life while GY highlights the opportunities for a young person in life.


'Bed' and 'Lucozade'

There are very clear links with “Lucozade’ with elements of sadness and worry for the people involved. However, in “Lucozade’, the mother who is unwell is mostly affectionate and positive. The emotion of sadness is different from the frustration and anger expressed in “Bed’. The common idea of the importance of food/treats when you are unwell is highlighted in both poems. Each text also suggests that death is about to afflict both relationships.
'Bed' and 'MGH'


Differences:

The vigorous grandmother in MGH contrasts with the elderly woman in ‘Bed’. In ‘Bed’ the older woman lacks the strength and health to do things for herself. Her routine is not one of her choice - it is a mundane, passive existence which she has no control over. Whereas the persona in MGH is a spirited woman who takes on life’s challenges wholeheartedly.

Similarities:

However, both women are linked by their separation from the rest of life/what used to be normal to them. The woman in ‘Bed’ has lost track of what goes on in her neighbourhood and is physically separate from the rest of the world. The grandmother seems out of place in her new flat in the high rise- she is separated from her old home and life.

'My Grandmother's Houses'

What’s it about?
The poem is a monologue told by a female persona describing the time she spends with her grandmother, both at her grandmother’s homes (initially a tenement and then a high rise block of flats) and the house her grandmother cleans for a living.

It explores ideas about the passage of time and intergenerational / family relationships.

The narrator seems to have a positive relationship with her grandmother and fond memories.

The poem makes some references to social class and several references to death or words associated with this suggest perhaps the grandmother has now passed away.

In this poem, the poet simultaneously recreates her childhood experiences and voices her adult perceptions of her grandmother.

STRUCTURE

Each section of the poem describes a different house, each one reflecting different aspects of the grandmother’s life, work and personality.

This structure enables Jackie Kay to create a vivid, memorable portrait of her grandmother.

The first section describes her tenement flat with her bedroom’s idiosyncratic clutter.

In the second section the poet creates a picture of her life in her new high-rise flat. We learn that she is always busy, still cleaning people’s houses at the age of seventy and taking her reluctant grandchild to church with her on Sundays.

The third section describes the child’s perceptions of her grandmother’s “cleaning house” and uses snatches of remembered conversations to portray the somewhat patronising “posh one”.

The final three lines suggest that her grandmother had moved to a ground floor flat, where she is disturbed by screaming ambulances. It is a sombre ending to a poem which pays tribute to the life of this spirited, hard-working and devout woman.

THEMES

TIME/AGE/GENERATION GAPS: Sense of the ‘standards’ of the older generation – work ethic, religious sensibilities, asceticism.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS- Sense of the child’s awe at the grandmother’s life /possessions. Clear love between the two.

LOSS/ISOLATION/DETATCHMENT: Explores ideas about displacement – physical (her grandmother physically move from house to house) and temporal (movement through time).

Also looks at notions of traditional versus modern ways of life – is embracing the new a rejection of the past?

MAIN IMAGES (1-7)

1-

Imagery is used to show that the tenement is a place where the grandmother thought she would live and die. When the granddaughter is describing the tenement and comparing it to ‘modern’ living she states:

‘The sideboard solid as a coffin’ –

Just as a coffin is your final resting place, where you die, a place you never leave, so the tenement is where the grandmother expected to stay for her whole life (and beyond!). The word-choice of ‘solid’ has connotations of stability and strength and shows that the grandmother felt safe and secure here. This idea also links to the first couplet – ‘tenement/cemetery’, showing the grandmother’s, and perhaps granddaughter’s, prior certainty that this is the place she expected to remain in.

2-

Imagery is used to show the food the gran makes to comfort herself after moving to the high rise. The granddaughter remembers her:

“She makes endless pots of vegetable soup,

a bit bit of hoch floating inside like a fish”

Just as a fish floating inside a bowl is magical, fascinating to a child, and is also often a pet, so the meat bone (hoch) in the soup seems rare and wonderful to the child and perhaps provides a sense of security and comfort to both. This shows us that gran tries to settle into her high rise flat by making comforting food.

3/4- 

Imagery is also used to describe the people that the girl met at church with her grandmother:

“A flock of women in coats and fussy hats,

flapping over me like missionaries”

Just as a flock band together, can surround you, so the women are always together, paying attention to the girl. This metaphor creates a successful image comparing her gran’s church friends to a flock- perhaps of birds –’flapping’. The reference to missionaries suggests a religious link as just as missionaries try to bring people to God, and believe they are saving your soul, so the women were trying to help the narrator.

5- 

A metaphor is used to show differences in social class. While at the grandmother’s claning house, the girl describes the piano as:

“a grand piano, top open –

a one-winged creature”

Just as a one-winged creature would be a mysterious beast or animal that the narrator – as a child – would be fascinated by, so the grand piano is strange, unknown and mysterious to the granddaughter.



6- 

This is furthered when the house is described:

“Rooms lead off like an octopus’s arms”

The simile explains that just as an octopus has lots of long arms, that extend in all directions, so the house had lots of different rooms spreading throughout the house. A successful image showing a large number of rooms – about eight spreading through the house.

7-

 Imagery is used to describe the grandmother.

Towards the end of the poem, in the final section, the granddaughter remember her:

‘like the hunchback of Notre Dame’ –

Just as the hunchback of Notre Dame was bent over in front of a great cathedral, was very kind and is vividly remembered, so the image of the grandmother is of her bent over but also of her kindness. There could also be reference to the high rise looming behind her like a bell tower and also a suggestion of someone who lives outside ‘society’?

ANNOTATION

'Gap Year'

Overview

Who is speaking? written in the voice of the poet.

To whom? Dedicated to her son, Matthew.

About? Describes his travels abroad and leads to reflections on her feelings about his childhood and newfound independence.

The poem explores main themes of motherhood (family relationships), closeness and distance, and the passage of time.

 Symbolic nature of title

A gap year is usually a year taken off between finishing school and going to University or college.

Gap: a space or interval; a break in continuity. literally a physical gap between mother and son.
Year: the period of 365 days. Suggests that the 18 years have felt like no time at all to his mother; however this ‘year’ is very long. Questions perceptions of time.  

The physical journey of the gap year is a metaphor for/symbolic of the emotional distance Kay feels due to him growing up- there is a gap both physically and emotionally between them!
 

Structure
Written in 2 defined sections.

Section I:

• describes her memories of the weeks before he was born
• excited anticipation, the difficult birth

Section II:

• describes the progress of his travels and her mixed feelings about his departure.
• caught up in the romance and adventure of his travels in exotic places but misses him greatly.
• his grandfather’s blunt advice reminds her of the very real dangers he might encounter.
• disappointed when she discovers his plans change.
• final stanzas: her mood changes to one of elation and pride when she looks at photos of her son ‘on top of the world’.

 Annotation

 

Synaesthesia
Generally refers to a medical condition in which one of the five senses simultaneously stimulates another sense.

eg: a person with such condition may not only see alphabets but also associate them with particular scents.

In literature, synaesthesia is a figurative use of words that intends to draw out a response from readers by stimulating multiple senses- linking or blurring of senses together.

Final Notes

–There are many resonances, parallels, mirrorings and contrasts throughout the poem.
–The first section details the peace and tranquility of the perfect union of mother and baby. It is much shorter than the second section, suggesting that the experience felt brief/short.
–The second stanza starts with a flash forward of 18 years. The way this long period is dispatched by a simple section break, perhaps imitates the idea that, to Kay, Matthew’s birth just seemed like yesterday, and the intervening years have flashed past almost instantly.
–The second part is far longer in length than the first, suggesting that the experience of tracking Matthew’s travels and awaiting his return is a painfully long and drawn-out one.
–As with most of the poems in the selection, there is a wider range of tones present in the poem than might appear at first glance. Longing, pride, sadness, humour and nostalgia are all present in varying degrees.

 'Keeping Orchids'

Who and what?   The persona – probably Kay herself – reflects on meeting her birth mother for the first time. ‘Keeping Orchids’ describes the first meeting between Kay and her birth mother, her feelings about this and the relationship between them.
The relationship is not an easy one, and Kay uses the orchids to symbolise the challenges this encounter brings.


Structure-The poem is written in couplets and touches on themes of secrets and discoveries, as well as adoption and family relationships. Main symbol of orchids throughout to represent the relationship between mother and daughter.

Key Techniques used


Transferred Epithet: a figure of speech where an adverb or adjective (describing word) is transferred from a noun (person, place or thing) to which it belongs, to a noun with which it fits only grammatically, but not logically or practically. 

For example: ‘I have had such a wonderful day!’

The 'day' was not wonderful, but the experiences that you had that day made you feel wonderful. The feeling of wonderfulness has been transferred from you to the day to show the great extent of it- how that feeling overpowered everything. 

Other examples: "sleepless night”, “wide-eyed amazement”.

Synecdoche: when a part is used to refer to a whole

e.g. ‘wheels’ for a car;

‘suits’ for businessmen;

‘glasses’ for spectacles;

‘shades’ for sunglasses;

‘head count’ for checking the number of people;

‘brass’ or ‘strings’ for instruments;

‘he asked for her hand in marriage’.

Enjambment: a run-on line, a thought or sense, phrase or clause in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break but moves over to the next line.

Caesura: a strong pause within a line.

Assonance: when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound.

SYMBOLISM OF THE ORCHIDS

The orchid is an exotic flower that is challenging to look after. It comes to represent:

Kay as a baby, given up for adoption;

the reunion between the women;

the difficulty of keeping their relationship alive.

The meeting is emotionally complicated. The mother is very reticent and keeps the ‘story of her life’ hidden and secret. 

Kay finds it hard to understand her mother and to process her own feelings and responses to the situation. She uses the orchid to explore emotion stirred up by her past and this woman.

ORCHIDS AS FORM AND STRUCTURE

Orchids as key symbol and framing device.

The poem begins and ends with the orchids. This stresses their significance. Kay projects her emotions onto the flowers, leaving the poem itself detached in tone.

Remember that the orchids are also used as a symbol for:

• the potential relationship between Kay and her birth mother
• Kay herself, as a baby who needs to be nurtured and cared for
• the mother's guarded and secretive personality

The orchids are ‘still alive’ at the beginning of the poem. By the end, they are in need of extreme measures to make them ‘live longer’. The last line of the poem stands alone, carrying a sense of finality.

The poem ends on a description of ‘cutting’ with a ‘sharp knife’. This could suggest severing ties and separation:

• between the mother and daughter who struggle to reunite
• the initial separation between mother and baby when Kay was put up for adoption

There is a feeling of dissatisfaction, frustration and even anger. It is uncertain whether Kay will continue to ‘keep’ the orchids.

OTHER FORM/STRUCTURE

Use of couplets

Kay structures the poem using couplets until the last line.

The two line stanzas suggest a sense of coming together, as these two women unite; however, the frequent use of enjambment and caesura unsettles the reader and shows the unease that actually exists.

The poem never fits into the type of set rhythm that is common with writing in couplets. Perhaps Kay is reflecting the unease between her mother and herself, as each woman tries to understand the other.

The last line is on its own, reflecting the poet’s separation from her mother.

ANNOTATION

OVERVIEW NOTES
•Symbolism of the orchids – idea of a rare flower; difficult to raise and to nurture. They need special growing conditions. 

•Title parallels the adoption. But in this case, Kay attempts to keep and nurture the challenging orchids that refuse to open. 

•Written over 14 couplets – structure is very formal and precise. Pared back to bare bones almost. Coldness of the voice? 

•Focuses on a hugely emotional moment/topic but actually about emptiness. Stripped back and emotionless. 

•Seems more about objects than emotions – displacement.

KEY THEMES

Adoption/family relationships

This poem examines the consequences and challenges of adoption.

‘The orchids my mother gave me when we first met’

The first line throws the reader, as we are surprised to find she has only just met her mother. We then realise the context and the paradox of meeting someone you are so closely related to but who is a complete stranger at the same time.

Kay uses the orchids to depict the mother’s reticence. They also symbolise the difficulties Kay faces in beginning a relationship with someone she lacks connection with.

Adoption/family relationships/detachment/isolation

The meeting must be an emotionally charged one, and yet the mother’s response is to shut down and keep her secrets. She holds her past in a ‘green carrier bag’ and unpacks it in a systematic fashion. Kay is affected greatly by her mother’s detachment. It is implied that Kay seeks much more from this meeting than her mother is prepared to give.

The line ‘Time is outside waiting’ suggests that Kay doesn’t need her mother. Her life can go on without her - after all she has lived without her all these years.

But although she can get back to her life, she is left disappointed. Instead of the warmth of reconciliation, she leaves with fragile flowers that appear unresponsive to her care.

AREAS OF COMPARISON

Divorce

'Keeping Orchids’ shares similarities with ‘Divorce’ as both are about strained parent / child relationships.

In ‘Keeping Orchids’ the mother is detached from her daughter emotionally and keeps her secrets hidden.

In ‘Divorce’ there is poor understanding between parent and child, and the speaker seeks better parents ‘whose faces turn/ up to the light’.

This implies that her current family hides the truth (perhaps an impending divorce) from her, in a similar way to the mother in 'Keeping Orchids' keeping details of her life secret like the flowers that ‘did not open out’.

Bed

‘Keeping Orchids’ could also be compared to ‘Bed’, which portrays a disintegrated relationship between mother and daughter.

In ‘Bed’ it is clear that the mother resents the daughter for neglecting her and wants her to feel guilty.

In ‘Keeping Orchids’ similar feelings are implied, but they are by no means explicit. Rather, the daughter is left in her ‘winter room’, unable to open the ‘hidden album’ of her mother’s past.

In both poems, there is a lack of warmth and communication that leads to resentment and a detachment between parent and child.

Gap Year

Unlike 'Keeping Orchids', the relationship in 'Gap Year' is close and positive.

While memory of the brief meeting in 'Keeping Orchids' is quickly lost as Kay and her birth mother travel off to different destinations, in 'Gap Year' Kay's relationship with her son stays strong despite the geographical distance between them.

There is an openness and a sense of sharing experience that brings them together. In contrast, in 'Keeping Orchids' the mother's closed nature and secretiveness prevents a close bond forming.

Lucozade

Both poems deal with a mother-daughter relationship from the daughter's perspective. But there is a significant contrast in how the daughters feel about their mothers, and in the mothers' personalities.

In 'Lucozade' the daughter feels worried and protective towards her mother. There is warmth and openness in the relationship and it is clear the mother is willing to tell her daughter what she is feeling.

Both poems make symbolic use of flowers. In 'Lucozade' the chrysanthemums represent negative associations with illness and death. It is their rejection that is positive.

In contrast the orchids are a more complex representation of many different aspects of Kay's relationship with her birth mother.

'LUCOZADE'

OVERVIEW:

Told from the perspective of a 16 year old persona visiting his/her mother in hospital. Charts a turn in the mother’s, and ultimately the speaker’s, attitudes about death.

In this poem the persona (implied in documentary that it is Jackie Kay)describes visiting her mother in hospital. She was a young girl of sixteen, afraid that her mother would die.

The poem not only describes the shock of seeing her mother but conveys the personality of her mother expressively and with humour. Her mother’s ironic questions, her humorous commands, her idiosyncratic remarks may be partially the result of her treatment or operation but strongly suggest a person who faces her hospital experience with spirit and humour. There is something indomitable about her. 

The last two stanzas describe the euphoria of relief the poet feels when she realises her mother will not die but has recovered enough to wave from her hospital bed. 

The clearing of her mother’s ward cupboard of the traditional gifts an invalid receives, which her mother had decisively rejected, is a cathartic moment for the poet. 

For the sixteen-year-old persona, her senses heightened after the trauma of her mother’s hospitalisation, the sight of her mother waving becomes for her a beautiful, almost heavenly vision. 

ANNOTATION

STRUCTURE/STYLE-
Note the symmetrical structure of the poem balanced around the colon in line 14. 
This marks the move from the depiction of a stereotypical hospital death bed to a redefinition (on the mother’s own terms) of how she will face death. 
The poem serves as a reflection on the speaker’s changing attitude towards her mother’s death.

While the poem could be read more generally about illness – that the daughter’s actions literally bring energy and vitality back to the mother – it is hard to read the penultimate stanza, with its heavenly connotations, this way. 
A literal reading would also grossly simplify and obscure the poem’s complex themes of how embracing life can be the best response to death, and how death itself is coloured only by our attitudes towards it.

There is also a shift in the speaker’s perspective and tone between the poem’s opening and ending. 
This appears to be caused by her ability to perform the cleansing ritual of removing all the symbols of sickness from the mother’s bedside. 



The title – ‘Lucozade’ – is complex. It refers to the literal bottle (one of the aforementioned traditional symbols of sickness), but there is also a sense that the daughter’s actions are the real revitalising energy boost that the mother needs. 
Furthermore, the idea of Lucozade as a childhood memory associated with being ill (‘orange nostalgia’) is also explored in the poem, and there is a clear sense in the final line that the daughter’s final act for her mother might be a memory in the making – a moment looked back on nostalgically in the future.

LINKS WITH OTHER POEMS

All- Dramatic Monologue/conversational in style. All deal with inter-generational relationships i.e. relationships between people of different ages/generations.

‘Bed’ – illness & death; changing roles & relationships- both daughters looking after mothers. However, relationships in terms of closeness/intimacy are very different, as are the personalities of the personas.

‘Gap Year’- major milestones = distance caused & having to confront loss. Both end positively and show pride and love.

‘MGH’- closeness of relationship/ having to confront loss/ rejection of typical (in MGH modern) values. Both have strong, vivacious personas.