Stanza 1: forget
W.C - memories are fading, sense of loss
Stanza 1: exact sound
Small details we take for
granted will fade from
memory
Stanza 1: quiet weeping
W.C attempt to hide the pain
Stanza 1: into the shape of a half moon,
Metaphor: connotes fading
& change; also image of
loved one in fetal position -
shows pain or sadness
Stanza 2: smaller than her self,
Play on words
Suggests friend = fading, losing something in process of death
Stanza 2: before she left,
Death not a sudden
ending - often a process;
losing her friend piece
by piece
Stanza 2: blossom was on the trees
connotation of spring
and new life while
friend is dying - life
goes on
Stanza 2: held her hand
Offering comfort to her
friend: close bond between
them
Stanza 2: song from when I was a girl
Sense of nostalgia - use of
past as soothing mechanism - links back to
symbol of spring and blossom
Stanza 3: let her go boys
Allusion: message to people who are
grieving - acceptance
Stanza 3: slipped away,
Sibilance/alliteration
suggests friend just
drifts off - gentle
passing
Stanza 3: slip of a girl again,
W.C Suggests that death has made her young again -
reference to how Kay remembers her
Stanza 3: heart light,
W.C no more concerns, not
weighted down - peace in death
Stanza 3: almost smiling.
W.C relief in death; Kay’s song has soothed her
Stanza 4: I didn’t know or couldn’t say
Ignorance in grief: takes
times to process
Stanza 4: she hadn’t really gone.
Acceptance: idea that dead
stay with us; just not physically
Stanza 4: The dead
The dead
Emphatic statements
drawing attention to
finality of death, yet
setting up hope
Stanza 4: loved ones.
Direct address both from Kay and the departed.
Living continue to love and be loved; people live on in memory & how we ourselves are shaped
