Collocation is the co-occurrence possibilities of words. Cup and saucer, chair and table are acceptable collocations. But poets use marked collocations. Poets take liberties and use unusual collocations for effect. 'Clinic heart' (line 15) is an example of this. The poet uses it to describe the emotionless state of the heart.

In the table below are listed a few more instances of such collocations in the poem. Write down the effect of each in the space provided. Write the effect this has on the poem.

Complete the summary of the poem based on your understanding:

In the first stanza, two the young lovers who know that there is no future in the relationship are being ______________. They may continue to live in the same town but they know their worlds have to be two ______________ones, physically and mentally. They are physically walking away from each other and reconciling to this fact ______________also.

The second stanza states very clearly that, 'there is no ______________now and 'distance ______________and engulfs ______________.

The third and the fourth stanzas deal with the emotions of the lovers who are still thinking of their ______________. The speaker is trying to forget his/her ______________and get on ______________. She/he feels ______________inside, but life ______________on. She/he feels so dead that she/he cannot ______________and her/his heart which has become ______________and ______________, cannot break. She/he think of this separation as a ' ______________', a disaster known only to the two of them and wonder at the tragedy where both of them will have to live in two separate worlds from tomorrow. She/he knows that it is time to draw a ______________ relationship, however ______________ this act may be.

In the last stanza, 'goodbye' is called a ‘quiet disaster’. With one murder, instead of death, are born two ghosts who will, like Hamlet, inhabit two worlds apart from henceforth. But all these stanza-specific images point to the global symbol of separation i.e., Curtain.

Now find two images from each stanza, which eventually focus on this global symbol.

Stanza 1 (i) ___________________ (ii) ___________________

Stanza 2 (i) ___________________ (ii) ___________________

Stanza 3 (i) ___________________ (ii) ___________________

Stanza 4 (i) ___________________ (ii) ___________________

Read the extracts and answer the questions:

'Already division piles emphasis like bullets, Already the one dark air is separate and strange'.

i) Which words describe the 'dark air'?

ii) Explain 'Already division piles'.

iii) What effect does the repetition of the word 'Already' have on the poem?

Read the extracts and answer the questions:

'Goodbye'

There is no touch now. The wave has broken.'

i) Quote the line which states that the two people who are separating are not within touching distance anymore.

ii) What does the word 'wave' symbolise?

iii) Which one word in the above extract describes the theme of the poem?