Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of the poems is mostly Jackie Kay narrating her personal experiences. But occasionally the narrator switches to a collective voice, for example, the poems in the “Severe Gale 8” collection.
Form and Meter
The poems are for the most part written in free verse.
Metaphors and Similes
The poem "Keeping Orchids" uses the plant as a metaphor for the challenging nature of the relationship between the daughter and the birth mother.
In "Dusting the Phone" the speaker refers to the future of their strained relationship as either “a long gloved hand” or “An empty cup.”
Alliteration and Assonance
Example of alliteration in "Darling":
“When smaller than her self, she seemed already to be leaving”
Irony
“I am spending my time imagining the worst that could happen. / I know this is not a good idea”
Though the speaker knows that wallowing and obsessing is a bad idea she proceeds to do exactly that.
Genre
The poems are dramatic monologues. However, some are allegories and those that tackle loss and grief are elegies.
Setting
It is set in the modern-day western world. The poems are majorly set in a space occupied by family members or romantic partners.
Tone
Longing, Humorous, Melancholic, Nostalgic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Jackie Kay, the LGBTQ community and female voice in the poetry while the antagonist includes racism, loss, death, and heartbreak.
Major Conflict
The poems consist of a speaker facing or struggling with a social issue that cuts across their public or private lives. They grapple with reconciling their identities with the social constructs that define their reality. Furthermore, issues in personal relationships whether parental or romantic that cause a sense of loss or alienation.
Climax
The climax occurs when the speaker acknowledges or realizes the loss or heartache in their lives.
Foreshadowing
In "Gap Year", Kay mentions the fleeting nature of babyhood foreshadowing her son leaving for the world during his gap year.
Understatement
“You had passed the due date string of eights, and were pulled out with forceps”
The speaker understates childbirth.
Allusions
Several poems allude to the relationship between parent and child. Mostly the relationship between a female speaker and her adoptive mother, birth mother, or grandmother.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Bloody Mary is a metonymy for a vodka and tomato cocktail.
Personification
In "Lucozade", the speaker’s mother personifies the drink by calling it orange nostalgia.
Hyperbole
“I assault the postman for a letter.”
This statement from "Dusting the Phone" overstates the act of confronting the mailman for a letter.
Onomatopoeia
“Flip flopping” in the poem Gap Year.
