Explore the ways in which Isobel Dixon uses language and other poetic devices to present her ideas of freedom and restriction in Plenty

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Explore the ways in which Isobel Dixon uses language and other poetic devices to present her ideas of freedom and restriction in “Plenty”

        Isobel Dixon went to heaven and hell, she is one woman who knows what it is to suffer. She went from humble beginnings as a child living in the extremely poor and dry region of Karoo in South Africa. To an affluent and successful poet, Dixon manages to write a poem about freedom and restriction, a poem where she goes from having 'Plenty' of suffering to 'Plenty' of money. Using language and other poetic devices we can precisely analyze how Dixon presents her ideas, and if it is possible to have both, plenty of money, and happiness.

         When Dixon introduces her family in the first paragraph, she uses rhymes, making the text have rhythm and a twist to it, but what is most important is that Dixon rhymes the two most important words in the second line, it was a “running riot to my mother`s quiet despair”. It is important to note how she linked these two contradicting words, she is indirectly admitting her guilt to the reader, and how her mother restricted her feelings, and remained calm, when there was always a “running riot” going on inside the house.

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        Their bathtub was in an awful state, “age-stained and pocked...” which is parallel to the state of the family. The tub became a central symbol in the poem for the memory of her family. The bathtub is not only “age-stained” but it is also “pocked/ upon its griffin claws,” the claws helps us picture the old bathtub, but it also gives us the image of claws holding down on the ground, as if it was going to fly, because it “was never full”.

        “Mommy`s smile” presents the idea of restriction perfectly, where she tries to smile, but it was anchored ...

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