MAURA DOOLEY

Letters from Yorkshire

Starter

How is receiving a letter different from receiving a digital message?

Have you ever sent a personal letter?

What is the difference between receiving a greeting card in the post as opposed to electronically?

First Impressions

Which seems most like to you?

Son or daughterBrother or sisterWife or husbandLover GrandparentGrandson or granddaughterParent

Getting a letter from

Son or daughterBrother or sisterWife or husbandLover GrandparentGrandson or granddaughterParent

‘It’s not romance, simply how things are’

What does this imply to you?

Annotate your copy of the poem.

Mark the text to bring out two aspects – the contrast between closeness and distance.

For example: ‘It’s not romance’ implies emotional distance, but the word ‘heartful’ implies the writer cares.

Look at the personal pronouns in the poem:

he his his me me me myour they you you you your

1. Which pronoun is most obviously missing?2. Look at lines 6-13 and replace ‘you’ and

‘your’ with ‘him/he’ and ‘his’ making adjustments as required. How does it change the tone of the poem?

Student Response

Maura Dooley is imagining him gardening and working outside while she is inside. As she thinks about him, he becomes more real to her and it is as if she is talking to him, not at him, because she shifts from ‘he’ to ‘you’.

The poet envisages the man who has written to her as if she can see him. She uses ‘you’ because it brings him closer but she does not ever say ‘I’ when she is writing about herself. She talks of ‘me’ as if she was looking at herself from a distance, too.

Although they are far apart in distance and in what they are doing, the poet shows how close she feels by using ‘you’ instead of ‘he’. She also shows how well she knows him through phrases such as ‘You wouldn’t say so’ and the fact that she has seen him doing tasks such as breaking ice on the waterbutt.

Working in pairs

Write a paragraph exploring the various contrasts and similarities that are either expressed or hinted at in the poem, for example he is outside while she is inside.

What do you think the last line implies?

Extension

Compare Maura Dooley’s poem with that of Cecil Day-Lewis. Use the table to help you.