Title: Gap
Word choice – the gap his absence leaves in her life and the separation between the two – also reflects the years that have felt like a short gap.
Stanza 1: basket
the image of the basket is referred to at both start and end. Framing device – starts and ends with her son absent and Kay yearning.
Stanza 1: hardly able to believe
Inability to believe the
baby will arrive reflected at start of second section, when she can’t imagine his
return.
Stanza 2: mound of my tight tub of a stomach
Metaphor – image of a container – by the end of the poem it’s clear her son can’t be contained.
Stanza 2: foot against my heart
Parenthesis – extra info
expresses the closeness of the bond – the baby is already pushing against constraints.
Stanza 2: I felt you laugh.
Synaesthesia – closeness of pregnancy – his experiences are hers – contrasts to later, with experience through webcam.
Stanza 3: my close stranger
Oxymoron – ‘close’ and ‘stranger’ don’t usually go together.
They are physically close, but they are strangers because they have not yet
met.
Stanza 3: You arrived late, the very hot summer of eighty-eight.
Rhyme suggests the impact he has on her life and the significance of his birth – also emphasises that his due date was missed, reluctant to leave her
Stanza 4: forceps,
Word choice Connotations
of reluctance to leave her –
strong bond –irony as now
he is unwilling to return.
Stanza 5: peek in your room and stare
Word choice of ‘peek’ connotes anxiety and uncertainty.
Repetition – Recalls the opening of the poem – and her sense of longing.
Stanza 5: away, away
Repetition emphasises the
distance between them and
how strongly she feels the
separation.
Stanza 5: Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia.
List of South American countries – exotic, distant and connotations of adventure and exploration.
Stanza 6: I follow your trails
Role reversal – usually a child that follows the parent.
Stanza 6: from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica to the Pacific,
Emphasises the range and
scale of her son’s travels.
Reinforces the physical distance.
Stanza 6: the baby turtles to the massive leatherbacks.
Symbolism – sea turtles symbolise how far he has come since the Moses basket.
Stanza 7: ‘Have you considered altitude sickness,
Christ, he’s sixteen thousand feet above sea level.’
Direct speech – Grandfather’s warning
introduces humour and also a sense of realism.
Stanza 8: your face is grainy, blurry
Recalls the initial ‘floury’
baby he used to be and
contrasts with the baby
scan in the next stanza –
one is present, the other a
moment from the past.
Stanza 9: shy, smiling,
Sibilance – delicate sound
reflects her still seeing him
as her innocent little boy.
Stanza 9: the webcam reminds me of the second scan at twenty weeks, how at that fuzzy
Comparison between present and past – both grainy pictures.
Compares webcam to baby photo, with the word ‘fuzzy’ having connotations of hard to grasp,intangible.
Stanza 10 & 11: ‘There’s three warring factions in Bolivia, warn him against it. He canny see everything. Tell him to come home.’
His grandfather displays
parental urge to protect –
represents the voice of
age/fear/worry/caution and
contrasts with Matthew’s
care-free plans.
Stanza 12: After Bolivia, you plan to stay with a friend’s Auntie in Argentina Then – to Chile where you’ll stay with friends of Diane’s.
Struggling to keep up with plans – unpredictable nature of youth.
She feels separate to his life.
Stanza 13: home-alone mother;
Pun
Usually to be applied to a
child, so more role reversal.
Stanza 13: all the lights have gone out in the hall,
Symbolic – the light has
left her life in his absence.
