A shape poem «better late than...» by Patrick Winstanley

1. A shape poem «BETTER LATE THAN...» by Patrick Winstanley

By Guretskaya Daria and Smolnikova
Daria, group 0-18-46

2.

BETTER LATE THAN...
Are you one of those punctual
People who organises everything
With precision? Utterly dependable
Totally reliable wholly predictable.
Or is your entire life lived in a state of
Chaotic confusion? Rushing hither and
Whence: late arrivals missed meetings
Delayed departures and in your wake
A trail of disappointment and despair
I am the former; my wife the latter
‘Hurry up, if we don’t leave now
We’ll miss the plane’ shouted
Plaintively from the foot
Of the stairs produced
A sound of hurried
Footsteps and
Her muffled
Response
‘Hold
On
I
Am
Only
Putting
My make-up
On, I promise I
Won’t be a jiffy.
And I must just run a
Brush through my hair
And hurl some clothing into
A suitcase’. My fingers drummed
On the bannister as I felt my anger
Welling from deep within me, ‘Ready?’
I asked, as I bounded into our bedroom
I laid my hands upon her shoulders and
I began caressing her neck as I repeated
The question. ‘Ready?’ ‘Lordy, how many
Times am I going to have to repeat this,
I’m ready when I’m ready, not before’
Was the rather strangulated reply,
The last words spoken by my dear
Late wife before she departed.

3. Backgrounding means

Aposiopesis in the title of the poem marked by
suspension points (...) demonstrates the
narrator overcoming with anger, excitement. It
is the famous proverb "Better late than never"
that is often expressed with a degree of
sarcasm, saying something positive but merely
hinting at somebody's lateness.

4. Foregrounding means

There are words and expressions relating to the thematic field
of time and hurry, e.g., "punctual", "rushing", "late", "missed",
"delayed", "hurry up", "hold on", "I won't be a jiffy",
"Ready?".
It is noteworthy that the enumerations of certain traits of
character ("Utterly dependable totally reliable wholly
predictable...") or of successive events ("...late arrivals missed
meetings delayed departures...") are without commas, that
helps to create the effect of being in eternal rush.
The second enumeration is put in parallel structure with the
line "...a trail of disappointment and despair..." that helps to
highlight the idea that life is too short to be in a hurry.

5. Foregrounding means

Asyndeton in the line 10 creates an effect of two separated
spouses.
A metaphor "strangulated reply" contributes to the idea of a
drastic difference between the two spouses and between their
emotional states that are antithetic to each other: while the
wife is slow, her response is "muffled", the husband gets
rattled as his "...fingers drummed on the bannister as (he) felt
(his) anger welling from deep within (him)...", he "bounded
into" their room which presupposes a high level of excitement.
The antithesis is not only marked verbally but typographically.
There is a gradation of negative emotions of husband: «My
fingers drummed on the bannister as I felt my anger welling
from deep within me, ‘Ready?’I asked, as I bounded into our
bedroom I laid my hands upon her shoulders and I began
caressing her neck as I repeated the question. ‘Ready?’»

6. Grammaticality

• Subject ellipsis in the last sentence "Was the
rather strangulated reply..." contributes to a
conversational tone so as to bridge the gap
between the author and the readers.

7. Message

It is evident that all the means in the poem
make it clear that the message the author
strives to convey is «Better never late».

8. Thank you for your attention!