Language
Morrissey’s use of verbs such as repelTo force or drive something or someone back so that they move away., emphasises the conflict between her parents now - highlighting how our identity is often shaped early and remains linked to our parents regardless of whether their relationship survives.
This is also emphasised by the repetition of the word “separate”, highlighting the distance between them - both physically and metaphoricalSomething is metaphorical when you use it to stand for another thing. For example, Morrissey’s parents may not literally be living on separate hemispheres – but they are emotionally very far apart. - now that they have separated.
Through these methods Morrissey explores the idea of distance and togetherness, showing that our identity can overcome separation or distance.
The visual detail in Morrissey’s allusionTo make an allusion to something is to call it to mind without mentioning it explicitly, in other words to hint at or call attention to it indirectly. to the childhood rhyme Here is the Church - which uses hand actions - links the poem both to childhood memories and to her parents’ marriage.
Using the “fingers” and “palms” in these hand actions, she describes how “I re-enact their wedding with my hands.” This childish image perhaps also shows how the speaker’s identity was formed in some part in childhood – the formative years of development.
The religious imagery used in the reference to this childhood rhyme reminds us again of the marriage that created the speaker. The “chapel where a steeple stands” becomes the setting for this union where her mother is “demureTo be demure is to be modest, reserved, shy, quiet and well behaved. The word is most often applied to girls and women. before a priest reciting psalmA psalm is a holy poem or song used in Christian and Jewish worship, many are contained in the Bible’s Book of Psalms.".
The marriage ceremony may remind us of wedding rings and the circularity of life, which is then reflected in the cyclicalA cyclical process is one in which a series of events occurs in a repeating pattern, for example the change of seasons each year. structure of the villanelleA villanelle is a nineteen-line poem broken into five three-line stanzas and a final four-line stanza..
The shift in address to the future partner moves the poem from looking at the past as the influence on identity, to looking towards the future and how the identities of the next generation are formed.
This idea that separate identities combine to pass on many different physical and personality traits, but create something new instead of a carbon copy of previous generations, could also be suggested by Morrissey’s use of half-rhymes - for example “palms/hands”.
