(Note that analyses can vary widely, hence these annotations must only be used in conjunction with your own analyses).
Annotations of An Easy Passage by Julia Copus
Summary of the poem:
Title: Ironic since the situation the girl is in — stuck on the ladder trying to get into the house — is a difficult passage to get to her destination. On a wider reading, it may be ironic because adulthood is nothing but easy, but it may be referring to the relatively easy/laid-back life as a child
Tone: 3rd POV, narrative,
Structure: One continuous paragraph with lots of enjambments — reflective of life as it is continuous with no set structure
Themes: Coming-of-age, opposites (binaries?), Transience (references to light shows the fragility of childhood/this moment), Vulnerability (the girl’s position, her near-nakedness)
Devices used: Enjambment (creates questions), simile, rhetorical question, contrasts, foreshadowing (references to astrology and description of older secretary)
Links to other poems: Leisure Centre (also about a growing girl), The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled (about looking back at childhood)
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