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Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle


nuka

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Hi,

So I have to do a past paper for english, it's from May of 2007.

The poem is called "Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle"..

I got the general theme to be the loss of childhood and/or the presentation of memory..

but other than that, i don't know what to say about it.. help?

thanks! :D

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This is what the markscheme says about it:

- discuss in depth and detail how this poem explores the nature of memory and perhaps its unreliability

- discuss in great depth and detail the effects of imagery and diction and perhaps note the widesensory range included in the poem

- explore the relationship of the title and opening lines to the last two stanzas (for example, "watermelon pickle" and "unicorn" references)

- recognize the use of tone in the poem (for example the humour in the first stanza).

Edited by Julie
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This is what the markscheme says about it:

- discuss in depth and detail how this poem explores the nature of memory and perhaps its unreliability

- discuss in great depth and detail the effects of imagery and diction and perhaps note the widesensory range included in the poem

- explore the relationship of the title and opening lines to the last two stanzas (for example, "watermelon pickle" and "unicorn" references)

- recognize the use of tone in the poem (for example the humour in the first stanza).

well, i can see how the poem explores the nature of memory, but i don't quite understand how the title is significant.. like, it already emphasizes that the poem is about memory, from the word 'reflections'

is it that this friend has just given him a jar of watermelon pickles and suddenly he's thrown back into his childhood?

and also, i don't get what the relationship is with the title and the opening lines.. or is the only connection that it both relates to childhood? :o

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well, i can see how the poem explores the nature of memory, but i don't quite understand how the title is significant.. like, it already emphasizes that the poem is about memory, from the word 'reflections'

is it that this friend has just given him a jar of watermelon pickles and suddenly he's thrown back into his childhood?

and also, i don't get what the relationship is with the title and the opening lines.. or is the only connection that it both relates to childhood? :o

The title is significant because it is the watermelon pickle that acts as a trigger for those childhood memories. It is as if the pickles have brought the poet back in time and he recalls those childhood memories. You should also focus on how important the watermelon is: "Than the one that was - watermelons ruled" - short syntax, final statement of fact, assertive tone ect. after this you can also analyse the sensory imagery of the watermelons "thick pink imperial slices". The seeds are also significant as they convey the children having fun and misbehaving.

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well, i can see how the poem explores the nature of memory, but i don't quite understand how the title is significant.. like, it already emphasizes that the poem is about memory, from the word 'reflections'

is it that this friend has just given him a jar of watermelon pickles and suddenly he's thrown back into his childhood?

and also, i don't get what the relationship is with the title and the opening lines.. or is the only connection that it both relates to childhood? :o

The title is significant because it is the watermelon pickle that acts as a trigger for those childhood memories. It is as if the pickles have brought the poet back in time and he recalls those childhood memories. You should also focus on how important the watermelon is: "Than the one that was - watermelons ruled" - short syntax, final statement of fact, assertive tone ect. after this you can also analyse the sensory imagery of the watermelons "thick pink imperial slices". The seeds are also significant as they convey the children having fun and misbehaving.

that's true, but i also thought that the seeds had a kind of war-like connotation to it because the poem uses words like "bullet", "rapid-fire" and ammunition".

but i didn't know how to bring that war imagery into my essay because it didn't fit with the idea of memory.

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that's true, but i also thought that the seeds had a kind of war-like connotation to it because the poem uses words like "bullet", "rapid-fire" and ammunition".

but i didn't know how to bring that war imagery into my essay because it didn't fit with the idea of memory.

Yes you are correct. Its quite easy to link in actually because it conveys a childish perspective of the water melon seeds and of war (how they make the linkage); possibly the degree of their imagination as well.

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Yes you are correct. Its quite easy to link in actually because it conveys a childish perspective of the water melon seeds and of war (how they make the linkage); possibly the degree of their imagination as well.

hmm.. fair enough.. i can see how that works.. thanks!

so then, using that logic, i could comment on the royal connotations of 'imperial slices' to be another illusion to the power of imagination?

oh, and what do you think about the use of the juxtaposition of 'melting frigidly on sun-parched tongues'?

i thought it emphasized the taste of the watermelon, but then any adjective or description of the watermelon could have achieved that.. i just can't grasp the purpose of why the poet used the juxtaposition rather than anything else.

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I would say that was intentional to further stimulate sensory imagery. if you think about 'melting' and 'sun', these are words heavily connected with summer which is the context of the poem. it is the poet's attempt to bring the audience into his world or reality and to experience it as close as possible.

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Alright, so how's this as a plan?

Intro: John Tobias' "reflections...Felicity" explores the theme of the preservation of memory and the loss of childhood. It depicts a flashback to a day of when the poet was a child, eating watermelon on a hot summer day, initiated by the arrival of Felicity's watermelon pickles. The poem conveys the message of perhaps how memory is unreliable, but uses humor and nostalgia to create an effective emotive and enjoyable poem.

Para 1: The title of the poem signifies the initial return to childhood, the gift of watermelon pickles acting as a trigger for the onslaught of the summer memory.

Para 2: Furthermore, Tobias presents a very childlike memory through the usage of fantastical elements and imagination.

Para 3: However, there is a sad, nostalgic mood depicted in the last stanza of the poem where the idea of the preservation of memory is explored, as is the loss of childhood.

Conclusion....

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Im writing my essay on this however i am unsure about what there is to say about the second stanza

During that summer—

Which may never have been at all;

But which has become more real

Than the one that was—

Watermelons ruled

i don't know why but i'm completely stuck

any help please?

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