Themes and language
‘One Flesh’ by Elizabeth Jennings
Task - linking words
Look at the words below. They have all been taken from a poem about
a relationship. Decide how you would categorise these words using the
grid. Some categories have been suggested, but following this you can
choose your own categories. You might want to consider:



themes
types of words
positives and negatives.
Temperature
Sadness
apart are bed he between book came childhood all close cold confession little cool destination
whole dreaming each elsewhere event ever faces father feather touching feeling fire fixed
flotsam former from gently girl grown hardly he hold wind holds I keeping know late lie light
like lives lying men mother whose much chastity my new now old these overhead tossed passion
how preparation strangely separate shadows she they strangely them they they're thread time
together silence touch two unread eyes up wait some who yet
Task - patterns and predictions
Given your categorising activity above, what kind of relationship do you imagine the poem will
be describing? Why?
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Themes and language
‘One Flesh’ by Elizabeth Jennings
Task - age and impact
How do you think ageing might change a person? How might it change them within a
relationship?
Look at the timeline below, from teenager to octogenarian (80-89 years old). Write what kind of
life events might happen above the line. Underneath the line, write how you think they would
act within a relationship. Assume the people stay in a relationship together for the entire
period.
Task - the title ‘One Flesh’
‘man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall
become one flesh’ Genesis 2:24
Is this what marriage means to you? What might this tell us about the poet?
Task – language or structure
Answer the questions below, focusing on language and structure within the poem.
Language questions
1. What impression does the reference to
‘shadows’ in the first stanza have?
2. Look up the meaning of the word
‘flotsam’. What impression might this
give of the relationship between the
couple?
3. Could there be double meaning of the
words ‘lie’/‘lying’? If so, what might
this suggest?
4. What word is repeated to suggest that
this couple may no longer really know
each other?
5. What words would you use to describe a
feather (stanza 3)? If time is a feather
what does this mean (for their
relationship)?
Structure questions
1. What punctuation suggests the idea of
waiting in stanza 1? What does this
imply?
2. What words start lines 2 and 3? What
has the poet deliberately done and why?
3. The phrase ‘or too much’ is separated
by a dash for emphasis. What might this
suggest about their affection?
4. Why do you think the poet uses
enjambment where she does?
5. What effect does the question have at
the end? (Think about the speaker’s
perspective.)
6. What structure is used to end each
stanza? Do you think this is appropriate
and why?
6. What contrasts/opposites can you find
here?
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Themes and language
‘One Flesh’ by Elizabeth Jennings
Task - comparisons and connections
This poem focuses on a mature relationship (presumably of a married couple). Choose another poem from the anthology which on the surface is
quite different in terms of the type of relationship.
In the Venn diagram below, begin by considering how the two poems contrast – filling in the separate boxes.
Following this, see if you can find any links between the two poems and complete the middle section. Draw the diagram out if you need more
space.
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