‘The Cord’ is at the back of the collection with the autobiographical poems but it could be said to be a transition poem as, similar to the start of the collection, it has a dark, fairytale-like quality. It alludes to Rumpelstiltskin through the “golden spinning wheel” in a similar way to how ‘The Diet’ alludes to Alice in Wonderland, with the protagonist becoming “the height of a thimble” and going on an adventure. This allusion to Rumplestiltskin could relate to the mother worrying about losing her child to their obsession with the cord. This theme of allusion to fairytales runs throughout the collection, although, not necessarily to specific fairytales as in this poem and more to the genre as a whole. Another way in which ‘The Cord’ has a fairytale-like feel is through its use of accentual verse with each line having three fixed stresses. This makes the poem sound like a fairytale by using natural speech patterns of spoken English in an impressively compelling way. It is the varia...

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