Case Study: The Simple Gift By Herrick

AREA OF STUDY

BELONGING

FOCUS TEXT: THE SIMPLE GIFT
What you must do in this Area of Study: • Develop a personalised detailed appreciation of the concept of belonging. • Closely analyse HOW your set text, Herrick’s The Simple Gift, SHAPES your understanding of belonging. • Select and study at least three other texts (broaden your search beyond poetry) which further your perception of the WHAT (ideas) and the HOW (techniques including form, language and structure) of belonging. • Be prepared to compare and contrast both the WHAT and HOW of your set texts and texts of your own choosing. The following aspects of the text must therefore be considered throughout your study of belonging.

Context

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The enjambment in the verse ‘and we slept together/only/we really did just/sleep together/content/to waste the hours/close.’ places emphasis on the feelings of comfort and closeness that each person provides for the other.

Euphemism - the use of a word ‘or phrase to replace another word or phrase that may be considered inappropriate or over-explicit in a particular context. In ‘Happen’ Caitlin ‘thought of what could happen I and what/I could want to happen.’ The euphemism used in the term ‘happen’ reflects Caitlin’s growing desire for Billy but also her fear at naming it for what it really is.

Foreshadowing - the arrangement of events in a narrative so that a particular event or description prepares the reader for something significant to come. An example of this is the description of the physical attraction Caitlin feels in an early encounter with Billy: ‘I read this and felt/something in my stomach ... hunger/but not a hunger for food.’ These feelings of sexual arousal foreshadow the sexual relationship that Billy and Caitlin eventually have in a later
For example, ‘I know what I really need/and it’s not in my bedroom.’ uses high modality in the emphatic ‘really’ to highlight Caitlin’s very definite view about her values in comparison to those of her parents.

Hyperbole - extreme exaggeration for effect or emphasis. An example of hyperbole occurs in the lines ‘I am listening to/the saddest man in the world,’ which shows that from the very essence of his being Old Bill is affected by his sadness and grief.

Irony - occurs when someone says or does something that has the opposite meaning to the intention. We see irony in the fact that Billy views his carriage as a place where he can feel good about himself and his circumstances, despite the irony of its being a place symbolic of his homelessness.

Juxtaposition - is created when two words or phrases with opposing meanings are placed in close proximity within a text. The effect of such contrast can help to emphasise a particular idea. For example, ‘a warm, safe little cave/for children to hide in/when/they’re scared and lonely/and need somewhere safe to go./Billy’s cave.’ uses the juxtaposition between the words ‘safe’ and ‘scared’ to reinforce the idea that Billy feels a sense of belonging to the carriage because it is a refuge from his terrible