one flesh elizabeth jennings analysis
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The poem is full of echo's and lines which reverberate with with meaning. The phrase 'all men elsewhere' in line four is a good example of this richness of texture. The woman lies like a girl daydreaming, perhaps of other men she has known. At the same time, the phrase suggests that now, all men are elsewhere she is no longer has need of them. At the start of the poem, Jennings could almost be talking about two people who are dead, lying peacefully in a tomb.
The overall tone of the poem is gentle, even fragile. Time has had little effect on them. Time is a feather which is soft and fragile - one may land on your skin and you would hardly notice it, this is how time has treated this elderly couple, touching them but leaving them unscored.
Form
Elizabeth Jennings prefers to write in traditional forms. The poem consists of three 6 line stanzas with a regular rhyming scheme...