A Decade Flashcards
by Amy Lowell — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: A Decade
Who wrote "A Decade"?
Amy Lowell, published in Pictures of the Floating World (1919).
How many lines is "A Decade"?
Six lines.
Who is "A Decade" believed to be addressed to?
Ada Dwyer Russell, Amy Lowell's companion and partner of eleven years.
What does the beloved taste like at the beginning of the relationship?
"Red wine and honey" — intoxicating, rich, and burningly sweet.
What does the beloved taste like after a decade?
"Morning bread" — smooth, pleasant, and quietly nourishing.
What is the central metaphor of "A Decade"?
Love experienced as food and taste — shifting from intoxicating wine to sustaining bread.
What does the final line of "A Decade" say?
"But I am completely nourished."
Is the poem's tone about mature love positive or negative?
Positive — the speaker affirms that mature love, though less intense, is completely nourishing and sustaining.
What does "red wine and honey" symbolize?
The overwhelming, intoxicating quality of new passionate love.
What does "morning bread" symbolize?
The quiet, essential nourishment of mature, enduring love.
What literary movement does "A Decade" exemplify?
Imagism — using precise, concrete images and extreme economy of language.
What sensory experience dominates the poem?
Taste — the entire poem is built on the metaphor of tasting the beloved.
What does the word "burnt" suggest about early love?
That passionate new love is both pleasurable and painful, almost too intense to bear.
What does "savour" mean in the poem?
The distinctive taste or flavor of something — here meaning the familiar, known quality of the beloved.
Why is the title "A Decade" significant?
It refers to the ten years of Lowell's relationship with Ada Russell, marking the passage of time that transforms love.
What poetic form does "A Decade" use?
Free verse with no fixed meter or rhyme scheme, consistent with Imagist principles.
How does "A Decade" differ from traditional love poems?
It honestly portrays how love changes over time rather than idealizing eternal passion, and celebrates the ordinary over the extraordinary.
What contrast structures the poem?
The contrast between early love (wine/honey, burning, sweetness) and mature love (bread, smooth, nourishing).
Why is "A Decade" historically significant?
It is one of the earliest openly same-sex love poems in American literature.
In what collection was "A Decade" published?
Pictures of the Floating World (1919).