What is keeping orchids about?
a daughter’s difficult first meeting with her biological mother and thte orchids she receives symbolies their fragile realtionship
main themes in keeping orchids
nostalgia
relationships
isolation
techniques in keeping orchids
couplets, enjambent, caesura, symbolism, cold imagery, onomatiopia
nostalgia in keeping orchids
speaker holds on to fading memory of her meeting with her mother
little details remembered shows how important it was & painful that the memory is disapearing
relationships in keeping orchids
fragile awkard, emotionallly strained relationship and the meeting exposed this
isolation in keeping orchids
speaker feels emotionally alone and dissconected event after meeting
shown through cold imagery, dying orchids, mother secretive and closed off
“closed as secrets”
simile, closed buds compares to their relationship not flourishing and connects to her mother being closed off
“like a baby in a shawl”
simile, protective of the orchids
linking to how her mother didn’t care for her and protect her when she was a baby
“the whole glass carafe has crashed “
assonance- slow motion sense of vase crashing creates sense of panic
onomatopoeia- ‘crashed’ highlights fragility and sudden emotional disruption
“falling over, unprovoked, soaking”
list- happens without her invokvement simply deals with the aftermath
“troubled hands”
transferred epithet - reflects how the meeting has effected her, emotional turmoil
“skin shut like an eye in the dark”
simile- reflects how mother is secretive
word choice- ‘dark’ suggests speaker feels lost and confused
“her voice rushes through a tunnel the other way from home”
metaphor- links to seperate train stations and distance between them, forrgetting sound of her mothers voice
“time is outside waiting”
personification- shows how the meeting doesn’t effect her life, nothing really changed
“cutting the stems”
word choice- violet imagery, represents how they’re seperated or emotional ties as the orchids represent their relationship
sharp abrupt finish suggests relationship is damaged, uncomplete and fragile
