Themes
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Love & Relationships, topic 6.1.2
Separation
Letters From Yorkshire contrasts the indoor life of the narrator ‘me’ with the outdoor life of the ‘you/he’ figure. Dooley is exploring how two very opposite people function in this relationship. Here are some examples of how Dooley does this:
Shifting pronouns
- Although the poem is written in the first person, the narrator shifts between using second and third person pronouns to refer to her lover.
- She addresses him as ‘he’ when she is reading his letters and seems to use ‘you’ when she is speaking to him directly.
- The separation between them shows the shift between the man in the letters and the man himself.
Language of contrast
- The poet clearly presents these letters as creating a passage between their worlds – ‘it’s you / who sends me word of that other world'.
- She also uses language of contrast throughout to build the sense of their contrasting spheres of existence:
- He is ‘out there, in the cold’ whilst she is inside with her ‘heartful of headlines / feeding words onto a blank screen.’
Inadequacy
Dooley creates a sense throughout the poem that the narrator feels her indoor life is inadequate compared to the active outdoor life of her lover.
The man's world
- Dooley presents the man’s world as more fulfilling:
- ‘Is your life more real because you dig and sow?’
- He sees the ‘seasons turning’ and he is described with active verbs. For example:
- ‘Breaking ice’.
- 'Clearing a path.’
Juxtaposition
- The outdoor world is juxtaposed (contrasted) with her less practical work of writing.
- The narrator feels a heightened awareness of the man’s practical skills and connection with the outside world.
- But his letters are there to reassure her that he doesn’t think his life is more fulfilling. Instead, he wants to share it with her.
Romance
Letters from Yorkshire is not a typical love poem but explores the smaller, and often more powerful, acts of romance.
Not a typical love poem
- This is not a typical love poem – like those of the Victorian or Romantic poets. Instead, Dooley emphasises that this is ‘not romance, simply how things are’.
- However, throughout the poem, the reader is given the sense that the act of the two sharing their worlds with each other through their letters is an act of love.
Penultimate and final stanzas
- In the final stanza, the poet uses the language of connection such as: ‘Still, it’s you who sends me word of that other world / pouring air and light into an envelope’.
- This conveys the bridge of communication that the letters provide.
- It is also a spiritual connection. It is their ‘souls’ that ‘tap out messages across the icy miles.’
Test yourself on Themes
What person is the poem written in?
What techniques does Dooley use to contrast the indoor life of the narrator with the outdoor life of the letter-writer?
What techniques does Dooley use to show the narrator's feelings of inadequacy?
Who in the poem is described as 'breaking ice'?
What, according to the poet, 'tap out messages across the icy miles’?