How does Auden tell the story in Miss Gee?
'How does Auden tell the story in Miss Gee?'
I think Auden tells the story in Miss Gee in a way which makes you so engaged it feels disturbing to read about Miss Gee's life and death. The poem on the whole is very short, representing the fact that Miss Gee’s life seems insignificant.
Auden starts off the poem by saying "Let me tell you a little story". This is already implying that Miss Gee and her life story will probably perceived as insignificant by the reader, which is representative of a society which doesn’t notice, value and respect people who blend in to the background, living ‘boring’ lives.
There are many more examples in this text of Auden using words which are synonymous with ‘small’ being used to describe Miss Gee; ‘She’d a slight squint in her left eye, her lips were thin and small, she had narrow sloping shoulders and she had no bust at all.’ The fact Auden has said “she had no bust at all” implies that she was not of interest to men, which partially reveals that her life was without excitement.
Auden goes onto say, in the next stanza ‘She lived in Clevedon Terrace In a small bed-sitting room.’ This is the second time Auden has said that Miss Gee resides in Clevedon Terrace, which shows this fact is clearly of great importance. The fact that she lives in Clevedon Terrace is of such importance because it sounds like the stereotypical idea of boring Britain – ‘Terrace’ implies that she lives in a small, typically British house, and ‘Clevedon’ just sounds very average. The term ‘Clevedon Terrace’ also creates an image in the reader’s mind of a street with many identical houses along it, further enforcing the idea that Miss Gee is insignificant, as she is just one of many.
In the next stanza, Auden implies a sense of predictability about Miss Gee’s life – ‘She’d a purple mac for wet days, A green umbrella too to take’. In most cases being well prepared for different situations is a good thing, but the fact that as the reader we have just been
I think Auden tells the story in Miss Gee in a way which makes you so engaged it feels disturbing to read about Miss Gee's life and death. The poem on the whole is very short, representing the fact that Miss Gee’s life seems insignificant.
Auden starts off the poem by saying "Let me tell you a little story". This is already implying that Miss Gee and her life story will probably perceived as insignificant by the reader, which is representative of a society which doesn’t notice, value and respect people who blend in to the background, living ‘boring’ lives.
There are many more examples in this text of Auden using words which are synonymous with ‘small’ being used to describe Miss Gee; ‘She’d a slight squint in her left eye, her lips were thin and small, she had narrow sloping shoulders and she had no bust at all.’ The fact Auden has said “she had no bust at all” implies that she was not of interest to men, which partially reveals that her life was without excitement.
Auden goes onto say, in the next stanza ‘She lived in Clevedon Terrace In a small bed-sitting room.’ This is the second time Auden has said that Miss Gee resides in Clevedon Terrace, which shows this fact is clearly of great importance. The fact that she lives in Clevedon Terrace is of such importance because it sounds like the stereotypical idea of boring Britain – ‘Terrace’ implies that she lives in a small, typically British house, and ‘Clevedon’ just sounds very average. The term ‘Clevedon Terrace’ also creates an image in the reader’s mind of a street with many identical houses along it, further enforcing the idea that Miss Gee is insignificant, as she is just one of many.
In the next stanza, Auden implies a sense of predictability about Miss Gee’s life – ‘She’d a purple mac for wet days, A green umbrella too to take’. In most cases being well prepared for different situations is a good thing, but the fact that as the reader we have just been