Woman Seated in the Underground, 1941
🇬🇧
In English
In English
Practice Known Questions
Stay up to date with your due questions
Complete 5 questions to enable practice
Exams
Exam: Test your skills
Course needs 15 questions
Learn New Questions
Manual Mode [BETA]
Select your own question and answer types
Specific modes
Learn with flashcards
Complete the sentence
Listening & SpellingSpelling: Type what you hear
multiple choiceMultiple choice mode
SpeakingAnswer with voice
Speaking & ListeningPractice pronunciation
TypingTyping only mode
Woman Seated in the Underground, 1941 - Leaderboard
Woman Seated in the Underground, 1941 - Details
Levels:
Questions:
11 questions
| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| Collection Introduction | Standing Female Nude, 1985 Based on a sketch of Henry Moore - woman sheltering in the underground from a bombing raid |
| Subject | Set in World War 2 The protagonist is suffering loss of memory and is confused about her surroundings |
| Form (5) | Three heptets (the modernity contrasts the setting) Interior dramatic monologue Stream of consciousness (intensifies her confusion) Ventriloquism; - woman is given a voice - people around her are given a voice Direct speech; 'Christ she's a rum one' |
| Theme (4) | Traumas of war and violence and the psychological damage war causes Suffering of civilians during war The women is lost - both literally and metaphorically (loss of memory) 'Dear God' at the end - highlights her desperation; the only thing she can do is pray - Traumatic effect of war - Loss of memory |
| Motifs (3) | "found no memory, no love" "smoke has covered thirty years at least" "Yet my mind has unravelled into thin threads that lead nowhere" (loss of memory and identity) |
| Diction; Lexical fields Language Verbs (2) Economy on words Epizeuxis Onomatopoeia | War - 'planes', 'sirens', 'smoke'; violent atmosphere Colloquial - 'fag' - Dynamic - 'scream', 'run', 'sing'; panicked, tensed atmosphere - Stative - 'forget', 'know'; loneliness of the woman (separated from the dynamic action) 'no wedding ring, no handbag' (associational) 'Nothing' (between staznas 2-3) - emphasise the difficulty in remembering who she is 'There was a bang' (tense war atmosphere) |
| Imagery and Symbolism; Juxtaposition Symbols (3) Auditory (2) Synaesthetic (2); pictorial, kinaesthetic | "I know I am pregnant, but I do not know my name" - 'pregant'; symbol for new life (her hope for a new life is marred by the inability to remember her identity) - the woman (both in the poem and in the sketch) stands as a symbol for fear and vulnerability - 'Baby'; symbol for new life - "Laughter fills the tunnel"; her indifference towards happiness - "Now they are singing"; jarring effect - "I was running with the rest through smoke. Thick, grey smoke"; heightened senses - "My hands mime the memory of knitting" (contrasts to her 'mind unravelling') |
| Rhythm (4) Alliteration and consonance (2) | Prose-like sentences (not verses) Irregular (following stream of consciousness) Fluctuation from past to present (emotional instability) Starts at a slow pace; 'I forget', and is followed by enjambment (varying and irregular tempo) Sibiliance; - 'Shall stand up and scream' (desperation) - 'skies are filled with sirens, planes'; hissing of smoke after explosion (auditory image) |
| Rhyme | Absence of rhyme is dissatisfying; mimics war atmosphere |
| Tone Mood | Compassionate towards the woman Panicked, tense war atmosphere |
| Conclusion (2) | Civilians affected by war Juxtaposition of creation and destruction; new life and death |