Croeso i rifyn 10 cylchgrawn digidol Gwynllyw. Dyma gyfle i chi ddarllen, gwrando ar gerddoriaeth, gwylio clipiau ac hefyd gymryd rhan. Os hoffech gyfrannu at y rhifyn nesaf, e-bostiwch eich syniadau at llais@gwynllyw.org cyn dydd Iau 25ain Mehefin 2020.

Welcome to issue 10 of Gwynllyw's digital magazine. This is an opportunity for pupils to read articles, listen to music, watch clips and take part. If you would like to contribute to the next issue, email your ideas to llais@gwynllyw.org before Thursday 25th June 2020.

Critical Appreciation of 'A Flower Given to My Daughter' by James Joyce

gan James Merchant

'A Flower Given to My Daughter' by James Joyce is a poem with connotations of funerary proceedings, the ebb and flow of parent-child relationships, and a deep-rooted message of acceptance despite difficulty. The poem itself details a very vivid depiction of Joyce's daughter as a girl who is 'frail', so frail that he compares her to a 'white rose', which evokes an image of a temporary beauty or a temporary relationship as the rose blooms only for a select few days before beginning to wilt. The white roses he mentions several times during the course of the poem, present the image of a veil or funerary flowers, which provides a possible illusion to his daughter's deteriorating mental state after being committed to an institution. Her hands that gave,” leaves the reader with an image of the tide-like quality of parent-child relationships, relationships where both parent and child give and take. This image remains with us for the rest of the stanza. The final lines of the stanza re-iterate the tidal feel of the second line, with an ebb and flow quality and the actual image of time passing by use of a 'wan wav'. The poem's audible quality also primarily stems from this stanza, with'wan wave' at the end of the stanza evoking a grand and coastal sound through its use alongside the internal rhyme scheme of 'Than' and 'wan', a sibilance is present in the third line with the phrase 'soul is sere', he uses it to ascribe sympathetic qualities to a noise otherwise associated with a sinister action in literary contexts. This tidal image has the possibility of reflecting their conversation, or rather their ability to converse as something that is sometimes present, then recedes.

At the beginning of the second stanza he reiterates the image of the white rose, providing another insight of his daughter's appearance, 'and fair - yet frailest' presents us with an image of his daughter as a beautiful girl with a frail mental state. The next two lines evoke another image of her deteriorating mental state, with her'wonder wild in gentle eyes' veiled, presenting an image of a clouded or troubled mind, but also the concept of a barrier between father and daughter, while also presenting another subtle image of a funeral with a veiled eyes, echoing both marriage and traditional funeral wear. 'My blue-veined child' echoes back to her frail appearance, and humanises her in a way. The rhyming scheme of the poem is simplistic and child-like following an ABAB DEDE pattern with certain slant rhymes and a few internal ones. The poem also has a visual tide-like quality, with two long lines, as the A and D lines, and then two shorter ones making up the B and E lines, visually presenting the reader with a presentation that echoes one of its main themes.

The Poem

A Flower Given to My Daughter

Frail the white rose and frail are

Her hands that gave

Whose soul is sere and paler

Than time's wan wave.

Rosefrail and fair -- yet frailest

A wonder wild

In gentle eyes thou veilest,

My blueveined child.

James Joyce