Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

Paragraph 4
The poet uses a spare but concentrated diction to
communicate the subdued emotions of the poem. He
manages to suggest a lot through seemingly small
details. For example, we learn that she, as a keen
rider, jumps a fence she has already ‘faltered at’,
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AMPLE ESSAY
4:
ANOTHER ESSAY ON A POEM

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which, although metaphorical (she is hesitating
whether to jump into marriage) suggests also her
determination. In describing himself with her he
uses the effective simile ‘like an emblem of innocence
and experience’. The alliteration of ‘dismantled
dreams’ communicates the sense of her shattered
hopes. The terse description of the accident that led
to her first fiancé’s death leads into the
metaphorical description of her heart as
‘untenanted, searching’. The question is posed:
whether her concept of happiness as marriage to a
‘good man’ and looking after their home will ever
be adequate as a substitute for the loss of first love. 
Paragraph 5
In the second verse, two effective similes create
striking images in the reader’s mind: the image of
her potential new husband wading through the
barley field ‘like a fisherman in shallow seas’ and
his staring at the horizon
‘as if a message
were posted for his attention’.
The bleak terseness of the two words that end the
verse (‘saying nothing’) suggests that his silence is
ominous in some way. 
Paragraph 6
The poet’s ability to summon up an evocative image
in brief phrases is represented by the opening of verse
three ‘Our game of tennis at dusk’. The image of ‘our
hands brushed lightly’ is a small detail but it
resonates, implying feelings between them that are
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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left unspoken and not acted upon. ‘The ‘saying
nothing’ that ends the verse echoes the ending of the
second verse.
Paragraph 7
In the final verse, the poet considers the two
possibilities of her having married again and
ruling ‘a flagged kitchen’ or living alone. The
image ‘do you trim the plant of a single life’ uses a
gardening metaphor to suggest a person who has
retired from the world and finds satisfaction in the
small pleasures of life. The image ‘sheathed in a
green glove’ somehow suggests the protected retreat
from life that she has settled for.