ontinues throughout By Candlelight, and again the child seems to be a catalyst for the mother’s thoughts. She is doing the exploring for both of them, and the explanatory tone adopted in the poem implies that she is reporting her findings to her child. She still seems very descriptive, and continues to use metaphors to depict her interpretation of the scene around them. “A sort of black horsehair” seems to be an association of both colour and texture (possibly suggesting that she could get tangled up in the night) but might also tell us of the mother’s longing for a horse. The persona also seems to be appreciating a sense of comfort and serenity in her child, describing it as a “Balled hedgehog,” although she avoids the security of overused expressions. The sounds in this poem are also rather strenuous, as is emphasised by the irregularities of the rhyming patterns that are used. The implication of “The mirror floats us at one candle power” is that the room is dimly lit, and that it is more difficult to see, while “I hold you on my arm” suggests that they must struggle to keep together. The sounds used here are much harsher than in the other poems: in You’re there is very bright assonance (“dodo’s mode” and “Snug as a bud”,) while the tone in Morning Song is a lot slower because of many nasal consonants and liquids. In By Candlelight, however, there is much more assonance, and it tends to sound much more unfavourable: neither “haloey radiance” nor “violent giants” has a particularly pleasant sound to it, while “you creak to life” has a forbidding tone to it, emphasised by onomatopoeia. The diphthongs used create a comforting impression of elasticity, while accentuating the mother’s fear. In Nick and the Candlestick the sounds are a lot harsher, with clusters of sound like “O embryo” and re...
