They call me Mary - Blessed, Holy, Virgin.
They fit me to a myth of a man crucified:
The statue does not relish her role - various titles have been thrust upon her - she has been used and abused by people who have shaped their own idea of the statue to fit their own understanding of religion - Virgin
I’d wave up to women at sills or those
lingering in doorways and weave a glad path through
men heading out for the night.
Enjambment increases the pace of the poem - sense of anticipation and excitement. Also, assonance - long vowel sounds slow down our reading of the poem - Winkles
My mother would spare me sixpence and say,
‘Hurry up now and don’t be talking to strange
men on the way.’
We are immediately catapulted into the action - the direct speech lends the poem a sense of urgency - Winkles
the Liffey for hours pulsing to the sea
and the coming and going of ships,
certain that one day it would carry me
to Zanzibar, Bombay, the Land of the Ethiops.
The verb suggests the vibrant and colourful life that lay beyond Dublin - stark contrast tween the exotic world of Zanzibar and Bombay to the cramped world of the flat she grew up in
I’d bear the newspaper twists
bulging fat with winkles
proudly home, like torches.
The final striking simile suggests the child's victory and sense of achievement as she has successfully completed the epic quest of "buying winkles" - Winkles
the winkles
would be wet and glisten blue like little
night skies themselves.
The child imagines the wonder and mystery of the winkles - lovely sense of anticipation in these evocative lines - use of tactile and visual imagery - use of colour and a striking simile - Winkles
Tongues of flame in her dark eye
she'd say, ‘One of these days I must
teach you to follow a pattern.’
Why not now? Perhaps the mother realises that she needs to let her daughter follow her dreams not someone else's pattern - Pattern
This poem provides us with a series of snapshots detailing the fractured relationship between the poet and her mother, as well as exploring the pressing social issues of the time.
Topic Sentence - Pattern
They kneel before me and their prayers
fly up like sparks from a bonfire
that blaze a moment, then wink out.
Prayers are futile and ineffectual - Mary's role is just symbolic - she is unable to act - Virgin
centre of our foolish dance,
burning heart of stone,
molten mother of us all,
hear me and have pity.
Ironically the statue does not call on a catholic god but on the pagan sun god - Virgin