An examination of her body after
death
By Glen Colquhoun
The poem “An examination of her body after death” is a poem by Glen Colquhoun about the death of a very close friend to him. The two main ideas in this poem are that of denial and remembering, which are very evident throughout the poem.
One of the important ideas in this poem is denying his friends death, the author uses repetition of negatives at the beginning of each verse. “You are not her face” is a clear example of the denial that Colquhoun is feeling and how he cannot accept her death and is showing his anger and frustration and is an example of the negatives he is repeatedly using. This constant use of the negative ‘not’ really gets the message of denial across to reader quickly and effectively.
Another important idea is remembering his friend when she was alive, this is shown by the use of metaphors. An example of a metaphor used is “Who has corrected the drawings of children with expensive artists?” This is contrasting his friend, Rongo Subriztky’s face when she alive, to how it looks now she is dead. Colquhoun is comparing Rongo’s face when she was alive to the “drawings of children” implying there were many imperfections. He then talks about how the face in front of him is like the corrected drawings of children and like expensive artists because of the makeup put on the dead body. This metaphor helps us distinguish the deep sense of remembering he feels when he sees the dead body and how different it is to the friend he loved.
This poem is a clear showing of the grief shown by Colquhoun after the passing of his very close friend. On one hand Colquhoun is denying that his friend is dead by the constant remarks of disbelief and use of negatives. On the other hand he is showing the reader his vivid and fond memories of what his friend was like when she was alive by the metaphors used which give the reader a vivid idea of what is friend was like before her passing. By using these techniques the author very cleverly and clearly shows us the main ideas of denial and remembering.
By Oliver Fredrickson
By Glen Colquhoun
The poem “An examination of her body after death” is a poem by Glen Colquhoun about the death of a very close friend to him. The two main ideas in this poem are that of denial and remembering, which are very evident throughout the poem.
One of the important ideas in this poem is denying his friends death, the author uses repetition of negatives at the beginning of each verse. “You are not her face” is a clear example of the denial that Colquhoun is feeling and how he cannot accept her death and is showing his anger and frustration and is an example of the negatives he is repeatedly using. This constant use of the negative ‘not’ really gets the message of denial across to reader quickly and effectively.
Another important idea is remembering his friend when she was alive, this is shown by the use of metaphors. An example of a metaphor used is “Who has corrected the drawings of children with expensive artists?” This is contrasting his friend, Rongo Subriztky’s face when she alive, to how it looks now she is dead. Colquhoun is comparing Rongo’s face when she was alive to the “drawings of children” implying there were many imperfections. He then talks about how the face in front of him is like the corrected drawings of children and like expensive artists because of the makeup put on the dead body. This metaphor helps us distinguish the deep sense of remembering he feels when he sees the dead body and how different it is to the friend he loved.
This poem is a clear showing of the grief shown by Colquhoun after the passing of his very close friend. On one hand Colquhoun is denying that his friend is dead by the constant remarks of disbelief and use of negatives. On the other hand he is showing the reader his vivid and fond memories of what his friend was like when she was alive by the metaphors used which give the reader a vivid idea of what is friend was like before her passing. By using these techniques the author very cleverly and clearly shows us the main ideas of denial and remembering.
By Oliver Fredrickson
