In the poem "Seduction" by Eileen McAuley does the poet wish us to feel sympathy for the girl represented in the in the poem?
The first part of the poem "Seduction" is a story about a young girl who is seduced by a boy after the party, and consequently becomes pregnant. The second section describes how the girl then regrets her decision. In general the poet does intends her reader to feel sympathy for the girl. She does this by using many different poetic techniques.
But while the majority of the poem instills a sense of compassion for the girl it can also be read critically of her. For example, as the poet writes that she drank vodka through the phrase "she knocked it back like water", using imagery to imply that she drinks alcohol regularly or that at the very least she should have been more responsible for her own wellbeing.
In another stanza the poet again implies that the girl is not as innocent as she seems as she went to "day trips to Blackpool, jumping all the rides". This indicates that she was a bad girl, not paying for the attractions she is enjoying.
We can see that the girl is quite intelligent, as she is seen "chattering" about her O-levels. Therefore the girl should have been much more responsible in her handling of the incident, and ought to have known the risks involved in having sex instead of blindly following enjoyable pieces of fiction in her magazines.
However, the general sense of the poem entails a sense of sympathy for the girl- much like a television show in which the audience can already guess what will happen, but still cannot help but to feel sadness for the events that happened.
The reader gets this perception from the very beginning, starting with how the boy is shown- his purpose in the story is simply to seduce the girl, as we can see from the first stanza: "He led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks," which also implies that the boy is charge of the girl. The poet uses narration to set up the location of the poem and to show the general story.
The reader also gets many hints from the poem about the boy's personality through extensive use of
But while the majority of the poem instills a sense of compassion for the girl it can also be read critically of her. For example, as the poet writes that she drank vodka through the phrase "she knocked it back like water", using imagery to imply that she drinks alcohol regularly or that at the very least she should have been more responsible for her own wellbeing.
In another stanza the poet again implies that the girl is not as innocent as she seems as she went to "day trips to Blackpool, jumping all the rides". This indicates that she was a bad girl, not paying for the attractions she is enjoying.
We can see that the girl is quite intelligent, as she is seen "chattering" about her O-levels. Therefore the girl should have been much more responsible in her handling of the incident, and ought to have known the risks involved in having sex instead of blindly following enjoyable pieces of fiction in her magazines.
However, the general sense of the poem entails a sense of sympathy for the girl- much like a television show in which the audience can already guess what will happen, but still cannot help but to feel sadness for the events that happened.
The reader gets this perception from the very beginning, starting with how the boy is shown- his purpose in the story is simply to seduce the girl, as we can see from the first stanza: "He led her to the quiet bricks of Birkenhead docks," which also implies that the boy is charge of the girl. The poet uses narration to set up the location of the poem and to show the general story.
The reader also gets many hints from the poem about the boy's personality through extensive use of