1. Song for last Year’s Wife by Brian Patten
Very popular poet
Poems not aimed at intellects
A lot of ambiguity in the poem
Poem = deliberately ambiguous
o Has she left him? – and does death represent a metaphor
o OR is she actually dead
Chosen to speak to her on their anniversary presumably. Line 5 – is she aware of it?
Line 9 – has a new partner
o ‘feeding from me’ – kissing him
o But speaks as though this other mouth is consuming him
o Has had a draining affect on him
Line 11/12 – he does still love her
His spies are friends presumably
o Not very good, they come back telling him she’s just as attractive as before
o Suggesting the spies are also attracted to her
o ‘when they knew you first’ rather than when the poet knew her
Her memory could be like a ghost
o She is alive bit presents her going as death  ghostly
Line 22/23 – hoping she is thinking of him, but doesn’t know
Line 25 – final predicament – as though loss to him is an everyday thing  it isn’t new to him
Poem is in free verse
Techniques/ Rhyme Scheme/ Tone/Imagery
No rhyme scheme
Dramatic monologue- he is not speaking to readers, is addressing ex-wife, Alice – dead or
gone?
Images of winter throughout poem
o Line 1 – winter
o Line 6 – earth hard
o Line 7 – empty gardens
Tone = intimate – addressing wife who is no longer here
o Whole tone of poem = intimate
Uses imagery of garden, winter etc but complimented with statements – line 10/11
o Also personified – love doesn’t really walk does it?
‘song’ i irony  usually implies something passionate, positive, celebratory
‘For last year’s wife’ – irony – makes marriage seem temporary and trivial, however he is still
deeply in love with her
Plaintive piece – you feel sorry for him – sympathy
He is clearly overwhelmed by the loss of her

2. o
He is concerned whether she thinks about him
 We think she doesn’t
 Friends are more into her than him
Winter imagery  coldness of him and their relationship
Death imagery  death of her existence in his life
Negative image of new wife  like a leech, ‘feeding’
Caesura - breaks
o There is SO MUCH OF IT. Whole poem = full of it
o Many commas full stops, commas  breaks
o Reflects separation in their relationship