Both Tylers The Accidental Tourist and Duffys Mean Time have a strong focus on love. The Accidental Tourist is a novel about a mans journey to find himself after his marriage has fallen apart, and Mean time is a collection of poems about Duffys past experiences (presumably) to do with specific topics like love, amongst many others. I have selected two of Duffys poems; Mean Time and First Love to compare to two appropriate extracts from Tylers novel. I consider these selected poems and extracts to be suitable, and to coincide with the nature of the other selected text.
Carol Ann Duffy, a Scottish poet and playwright (born in 1955) wrote the poem Mean Time. It is primarily about someone mourning over the loss of their relationship. Its an emotive poem that uses a lot of strong words to evoke the pain they are going through. The title in itself it very strong; Mean Time- the word mean implies an intense negative emotion which sets the reader up for the depressing poem. The title could also be about Greenwich Mean Time - it could be a metaphor for when the clocks go back and we lose an hour of our daytime; darkness comes quicker (like the darkness had come into the poets life since she lost her lover) and what should be the right time (GMT) is suddenly lost, like her lover was lost. The line The clocks slid back an hour reiterates my previous thoughts; autumn time is when nature starts to die and fall away, much like the relationship in the poem; it has died and decayed and left the person to mourn the death of their lost love. Duffy then carries on in the second line to personify the clocks ...and stole light from my life which makes it more personal, as if someone physically stole the writers partner. The use of the word stole is powerful. It is a dramatic word that implies that the narrator had been personally attacked. This specific lexical choice provokes grieving and pain. Duffy uses specific words to portray the true emotion and loss within this poem. She continues to put emphasis on their loss by using alliteration with light from my life. This repetition of the li sound emphasizes the damage that the loss caused her, and emphasises how a huge part of her life has been taken away from her. Duffy maintains the use of a negative tone and lexical field throughout the poem. For example the words unmendable rain, bleak streets, I felt my heart gnaw etc. Duffy uses empathetic language that allows the reader to feel her pain. Duffy uses a lot of light and dark connotations throughout the poem ...stole the light from my life, bleak streets, darkening sky, ..beyond all light. In my opinion, this provides the reader with some vivid imagery to go specifically with the line ...and stole light from my life. When the audience reads these lines they must imagine the darkness being ripped away - Duffy uses very visual language. The structure of this poem is very appropriate considering the disheartening atmosphere that has been created. The short simple stanzas and the similar concise line lengths throughout the poem create a sense of melancholy by going straight to the point; the writers feelings are expressed simply but still effectively. The level of emotion throughout the poem stays the same, there are no specifically intense lines or flat emotionless lines. This, as well as the short line lengths, create a sense of numbness; the narrator is so lost in his or her own loss that they cannot function properly. Duffy shows the slightest bit of hope at the end of the poem with the last stanza.
But we will be dead, as we know,
beyond all light.
These are the shortened days
and the endless nights.
It is still very negative and depressing, especially with the use of the words dead and beyond all light, but there seems to be a slight hint of acceptance from the narrator, acceptance that the relationship is over and this is now their life.
One of the extracts of An Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (an American novelist born in 1941) that I am going to compare to Duffys poems starts on page 128, and finishes on page 132. This extract is when Macon and Sarah, his recently ex wife, meet up in a restaurant to talk. Tyler puts Macon at a disadvantage from the start; his broken leg. Even though this is only a physical ailment, it makes him more vulnerable then he would have otherwise been. Tyler writes that Before he broke his leg he hadnt even noticed those steps existed - let alone that they were made of smooth, unblemished marble, so that his crutches kept threatening to slide out from under him. His physical incapability has made him notice more things around him, and the fact that Tyler explains this as Macon is going to meet his old partner gives the reader the impression that maybe when he sees Sarah he may really notice her, that he will change his old ways and that his new outlook on life will give him a new start. Tyler uses personification of Macons crutches, like Duffy did in Mean Time with the clocks. This creates multiple threats and possible dilemmas. The personification of the clocks in Duffys poem implies that someone stole her partner; Tyler does a similar thing; it is not only Macon that could mess this meeting up, but there are also outside factors that could permanently take Sarah away from him. Both Tyler and Duffy write pessimistically about love - they write about people that are so scared to lose their loved one, and the unfortunate consequences of losing a loved one.
Similar to Duffy in the poem Mean Time, Tyler uses light to create an overall atmosphere which sets the tone of the evening for Macon. The foyer was dark as night. The dining room beyond was only slightly brighter, lit by netted candles on the tables. Macon peered into the gloom. Depending on the way this has been described, it could have created a positive, hopeful, romantic scene for Macon and his ex. However, Tyler has used very specific language to create this negative, anxious setting. The use of the noun dark in the phrase dark as night makes me anxious about how the evening is going to go; darkness can create unpredictability - you cannot see much and cannot predict what is going to happen. The fact that the dining room was only slightly brighter doesntt create any hope for the reader; the phrase only slightly adds negativity to the extract. If Tyler were to write the dining room was brighter it would be perceived as neither positive nor negative. The use of the adverbs only slightly makes it seem that the dining room was no better than the foyer. Macon peered into the gloom - the use of these obvious negative nouns continues to set a worrying, apprehensive atmosphere for the reader. All of these specific lexical choices imply a pessimistic feeling about the night ahead with his ex wife.
Later on in the extract, at the bottom of page 129, when Macon sees Sarah for the first time, reminds me of some part of Duffys poem First Love. The instant of stunned recognition that Macon has when Sarah walks into the restaurants is similar to my interpretation of how the character in First Love reacts after having a dream about an old partner. In Duffys poem, the forming real words / as close to my lips as lipstick is like a stunned recognition. They both instantly remember experiences and aspects of their ex partners that brings them back into their present life, and not having them in the past. They both have very strong remembrance of them, as if they had never left them.
On page 131, there is a reference to old-fashioned photographs which instantly reminded me of First love by Duffy. In the second stanza there are a lot of references to old-fashioned films and images that help imply how long ago her first love was. In The Accidental Tourist, the reference to old-fashioned photographs doesnt imply how long ago their relationship was, but takes the situation out of reality; The candle light turned everything to shades of sepia, like an old-fashioned photograph. The book is written from Macons point of view, and this makes me think that Tyler wants to imply that Macons character fantasizes about what could happen between them, and what could change about their relationship; he has a romantic, hopefully view about it, however, the reader knows that thatll never happen.
At the bottom of page 132, reading the paragraph starting with Oh, hed raged at her and hated her.. continued to reminded me of the poem First Love. But the fact was, she was his oldest friend. The two of them had been through things that no one else in the world knew of. She was embedded in his life. It was much too late to root her out. These four sentences in particular - both the poem and this paragraph show how having a strong bond with someone, being in love and then having that taken away from you can rip you apart. Both Tyler and Duffy talk about the painful side of relationships and being in love; they both use emotive language that allows the reader to feel sympathetic towards the character.
First Love, by Duffy, is another poem from her collection about relationships. It explains the memory of her first love, and once again Duffy uses specific techniques to write about love. The separation of the first word of the poem waking with the rest of the line, and the use of a comma gives it emphasis; her first love is the first thing on her mind when she wakes up, which implies that he is obviously still very prevalent in the life. It also creates a sense of urgency and importance. The realistic value of the dream is shown and emphasized with the alliteration and repetition of lips of lipstick. The line ...with a dream of first love forming real words,/ as close to my lips as lipstick,.. continues to emphasize the fact that her dream seemed to be reality to her, and implies that she remembers her first love well; she remembers many small details. It also implies how close the couple were; the proximity of them that allowed the to almost be one. Duffy continues to imply the importance of her first love by using words such as power in the line the power of your name brings me here to the window. In my opinion, that implies that the impact that he still has upon her life is so strong, that it is like he can tell her what to do and that she still allows him to control her emotionally.
Duffy uses the theme of childhood and youth in this poem - This was a childish love... to perhaps imply the immaturity of the relationship between her and her first love. But nonetheless, this does not take away from their relationship; it does not take away from the impact of the relationship that Duffy implies throughout the poem. Her specific use of the word clench in the line and yet I clench my eyes till the pictures return instead of a word similar to closed gives a sense of desperation. She is desperate to get back the feeling that her first love gave her. The second stanza uses a semantic field of cinema and photography. For example, the use of the lines
till the pictures return, unfocused at first, then
almost clear, an old film played at a slow speed.
Duffy makes specific use of time; emphasizing how long ago her first love was. unfocused at first implies how long ago these pictures were taken/ how long ago her relationship with her first love was. The semantic field of cinema gives a sense of a lack of reality to it, as if their relationship never happened. It also adds an element of distance and detachment to the relationship. The word film does this especially, since films are normally made up; it is like she has imagined this whole relationship. This also emphasizes time again; the connotations of an old film and the fact that she cannot remember the relationship well (unfocussed at first) implies how long ago the relationship with her first love was, and perhaps implies that she is not remembering it correctly.
The second extract from The Accidental Tourist that I am going to write about is at the beginning on the book, from page 6 to page to the end of page 9. Macon is reminiscing about his past with his ex wife Sarah, much like Duffy does in the poem First Love. Duffy remembers theyre relationship like an old film and Macon is remembering all the quirks about their relationship. Everything that used to irritate Macon is now becoming a fond memory; ..stuffed with her clutter of town envelops and unanswered letters. Tyler implies that when in love, you dont realise what youve got until its gone.
Tyler and Duffy both write about the loss of love, and feeling distant. Duffy explains in First Love (.. my lovers eyes, wherever you are.) that she feels distant to her first love, feels disconnected and lost. Tyler does the same at the beginning on the chosen extract by explaining that now that Sarahs character had left the family home, Macon feels adrift with her being there, The windows shrank. The ceilings lowered. There was something insistent about the furniture, as if it were pressing on him. He feels a certain pressure looming on him - he feels lost without her. This is also similar to how Duffy writes in Mean Time. She uses descriptive language to explain how the subjects world has changed since she lost her lover, ..stole light from my life, darkening sky, shortened days and the endless nights. Duffy implies that the whole world is against her since her relationship ended, much like Tyler implies that Macons house doesnt feel right since Sarah left.
Tyler and Duffy use death to explain how their characters feel when losing a loved one - mourning our love and But we will be dead, as we know,.. (Duffy, Mean Time) and He almost felt that Sarah was a ghost - that she was dead. (Tyler.) This drastic comparison emphasises the strong emotions involved and implies how abandoned and vulnerable they feel.
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