Form, structure and language



Waiting for a storm to hit, the speaker hunkers down, snug and safe in her study. Though Hurricane Floyd disrupts the business of daily life, it also allows time for daydreams. So, with time on her hands, the speaker finds herself daydreaming about her partner. Everything the speaker sees, from the rain outside to the ink on the page, reminds her of her partner. She pictures him as a knight in shining armour, protecting her. He's a vivid contrast, she thinks, to the 'worthless' boys she used to date. She's embarrassed by how content their cosy, ordinary lives have made them. Yet she draws comfort from filling the 'stolen time' resulting from the hurricane's approach with thoughts of Fred. The word 'apologia' means 'a defence'. A paraphrase of the poem's title might be, 'A Defence of Cosiness'.ThemesExtreme weather conditions from a hurricane is a key theme in ‘Cozy Apologia’A number of unifying ideas or themes run through the poem. Different readers may attach more or less significance to each of these themes, depending upon how they view the poem.ThemeEvidenceAnalysisBiography and memory: poem is a first-person narrative. It may be dedicated to the poet's husband, suggesting it could be autobiographical.'for Fred', 'the glossy blue/ My pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page', 'You're bunkered in your/ Aerie, I'm perched in mine/ (Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors)'References to a writer's study, with computers and office equipment, suggests Dove is writing about her own experiences as a writer. This intimate detail is one of the poem's strengths. It is also possible that the writer is picturing a fictional figure who shares many of the writer's own experiences.Weather: the imminent arrival of Hurricane Floyd and its potential impact runs throughout the poem.'Today a hurricane is nudging up the coast,/ Oddly male: Big Bad Floyd, who brings a host/ Of daydreams', 'Floyd's/ Cussing up a storm'While Hurricane Floyd has potential to bring destruction, the speaker suggests that the storm is welcome - it frees her from the business of everyday life. Being cosy indoors also allows the couple to be together - this gives the speaker the chance to reflect on their happy domestic life together.Men: the poem refers to different memories and fantasies about men the speaker has known.'Astride a dappled mare', 'silver stirrups', 'chain mail glinting', 'to set me free', 'Oddly male', 'worthless boys', 'thin as licorice and as chewy', 'Sweet with a dark and hollow center'The speaker imagines her partner as a heroic knight in shining armour. This is a cliché (overused and unoriginal) of romantic love which may be used in irony (a mismatch between the actual meaning and what is implied). The speaker may be gently teasing her partner by making this comparison. Another male presence is the hurricane which is 'oddly male' as most hurricanes are given female names. Like her partner, the hurricane has both the strength and power to bring or take away happiness. The speaker contrasts these strong male figures with the 'worthless' boyfriends of her youth - although they seemed sweet, they were 'thin' and 'hollow' inside.Form, structure and languageFormThe poem takes the form of a first-person narrative. The poem may be autobiographical as it could be dedicated to her husband, Fred, and it describes the home of a writer. Equally it could be about a character similar to the poet.StructureThe poem is composed of three 10-line stanzas. Stanza one is made up of five rhyming couplets, to make a rhyme scheme aabbccddee. This rhyme scheme starts to break down in stanza two, as if reflecting the disruption of the oncoming storm. By stanza three, a new rhyme scheme has begun to emerge: ababccdddd. Perhaps the poet intends the reader to see this suggestion of order and its progressive disruption as a way of representing the oncoming storm on the page.There are four stresses in most lines, but some lines have five stresses instead. Rita Dove sometimes varies this pattern, and the stresses do not always fall in a strict rhythm. The effect on the reader is to create an impression of a relaxed, informal voice – perhaps a thoughtful one, wandering from idea to idea.LanguageThe poem is written in relaxed, informal language, with lots of conversational digressions, as the poet flits from subject to subject. This disjointed feel is emphasised by the use of dashes to break up the text and by sentences that finish abruptly part of the way through a line. It's as if one thought interrupts another, in the flow of ideas. The speaker uses a metaphor, comparing her partner to a knight in shining armour. The imagery of a knight rescuing his maiden is echoed by the simile 'sure as shooting arrows to the heart'. Elsewhere, Dove uses a simile to suggest her old boyfriends were sweet but insubstantial: 'thin as licorice and as chewy,/ Sweet with a dark and hollow center'. The hurricane itself is personified as 'Big Bad Floyd' who 'nudges' and 'cusses' in his 'oddly male' way and this helps make the connection with the actual men in the poem. These disjointed images help to suggest the reader's daydreaming state of mind to the reader.ContextThe context in which a poem was written can sometimes tell you more about its themes, message and meaning.Some questions you might ask include:are aspects of the poet's life reflected in the poem? is the time or place in which it was written reflected in the poem? You will need to research the poet’s background to discover answers to these questions. But if you do write about a poem and its context, be careful to include only details that reveal something about the poem. Context of 'Cozy Apologia'It is suggested that Rita Dove wrote ‘Cozy Apologia’ as a tribute to her husbandAmerican poet, Rita Dove is married to fellow-writer Fred Viebahn and Cozy Apologia seems to be an affectionate tribute to him. The poem notes details of a couple's domestic life as writers, 'Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors'. It is set against the arrival of Hurricane Floyd, a powerful storm which hit the east coast of the USA in 1999. This factual, real-life context supports the idea this is an autobiographical poem. ................
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