Incident

This poem unlike the other two previous poems of Adcock only consists on one stanza. There is a repetitive use of commas which implies a kind of list or in this context a sort of account form a previous experience. Written in first person narrative the poem is quite dark and the idea of death comes about again " to hell, furninshed with danger and doubt..." except this time not another person other than the narative herself. "I suddenly woke; and found water about me... And you were sitting on the grey sand, waiting for the lapping tide to take me..." In this poem the scene of a beach is set unlike in he other poems where not setting if any is created at all. - Lui'sa

Another depressing theme, superficial shallowness of friendship. It seems good but they will stab you in the back and watch you 'drown'. The links to fairytales and myth, Alice In Wonderland and 'Orpheus', a mythical musician and poet symbolises how the friendship is like a myth. -Izzy

The title"Incident" creates the link between her "cavernous dream of falling" and the actions that happen in the real world. One thing I noticed is that the colour of the sand changes from "white" to "grey". That may be explained due to the "lapping tide" that has led her to the idea that he would not care about that her hair got wet. Even though I do not believe that it contributes to the main themes, e.g. shallowness of friendship (Izzy), but it might be relevant as it shows that he is sitting on the wet sand and gets wet just like her hair but does not care about it as he is only "watching" her and "lighting a cigarette" instead of helping her.

I think the changing colour of the sand also symbolises that at the beginning, when she is in a more amiable mood towards him, the sand is white and pure (she cannot see his faults,) but by the end of the poem, the sand is grey and therefore tainted, which incidentally is when the poem has begun to take a more sinister tone. I think the more sinister tone begins when '(circled by dead shells)' appears - this seems to represent the fact that their relationship has died. I am not sure if this poem is meant to represent the path of their relationship overall (as it seems to in my opinion,) or if it merely discusses an isolated incident, but I think the water provides a good good method of symbolising their relationship It does so by alluding to the man's behaviour, in that it grovels, possibly as a man might if he had done wrong and then later it seems to be a way for him to kill her, or get rid of her, if metaphorically. - Abby

This poem was very weird... Negatively connotative and at times really depressing. The poem seems to switch quite rapidly between what appears to be good or positive and then bad. Initially she describes him lying on 'white' sand-white is a colour that represents purity and in this we see she sees him as pure? Untouched, without fault etc. She then goes on to talk of Alice in Wonderland and Orpheus-a swift change in her views on him as now we link the myths to their friendship, making it seem like the friendship is also superficial or unreal. By the end of the poem the sand is now 'grey'-he is no longer pure, possibly symbolising the end of the relationship? Also a note to do with structure... The name is 'incident', an incident isn't a series of events it is ONE thing-similarly, this is the only one of her poems with ONE stanza. Chelsea.

Lines 10-15 are in my opinion a foreshadowing of the 'incident' The poem begins with a positive atomoshpere 'a rock under your head, and smiling'. The start of the negative atmoshpere begins at "into a cavernous dream" the consonance in 'cavernous' gives it a painful, dangerous, and negative feeling (line 10). Words and stories with negative connotations just follow: "It was all the cave-myths...Alice's rabbit hole...a spiral staircase to hell", it is as if her dreaming is leading her towards doom and destruction. This is then confirmed when she is "found [in the water]" with her apparent 'lover' "sitting on the grey sand waiting for the lapping tide to take [her]". Her lover does not care about her anymore, lines 10-15 foreshadowing this incident which destroyed and scarred her relationship forever. -Theon

The poem is different from Adcocks other poems, apart from the difference in the form of the other poems this poem starts of with positivity and builds on this motion until when the dream state comes into play. After the dream state, I found the ending somewhat confusing when the person wakes up and finds themselves covered in water with their friend sitting farther away waiting for the water to take them away, perhaps this relates to Adcocks themes in relationships struggles between men and women as seen in '//Against Couplings//', I find this to be deceit and agree with Adcock in her ideas. - Sahib

I think the poem's main idea or message is the same as the other Adcock poem's, it is once again describing the flaws of a relationship and also gives a negative portrayal of her former partner(s). As mentioned before, the poem starts out with a light positive atmosphere but then turns negative which can be linked to the change of colour of the sand. White is pure, and I believe it can be linked to trust, a key component in a relationship. Thus the imagery of an extended hand is given, "and you said, reaching to take my hand". The sand later turns grey as mentioned previously too, and this use of colour can be linked to such places as the underworld (hinted by "spiral staircase to hell"), as emotions such as greif and sadness can be associated with this place. This colour change shows the loss of trust and so the fall of a relationship. -Winstan

I think this poem is about the reason why Fleur Adcock is such a hardcore know-it-all femanist. She got hurt when she was younger, where she was in bliss, then suddenly, as if 'she went to sleep and then woke up again', she went through some massive hardship and her partner sat there and did nothing. This is, of course, why she hates relationships and stuff. She went through hardship, and her partner wasn't there for her during it. In the poem this is all shown by the metaphor of her drowning and such. The dead shells are foreshadowing. - Jacob

I very much enjoyed reading this poem, the link to the "path of Orpheus" is especially powerful. It is a link to Greek Mythology and how a husband went all the way to the underworld, the land of the dead to bring his wife back to the land of the living after her untimely death. Unfortunately, just as he was about to come back into the land of the living he looks back and his wife is taken back into the underworld. The poem begins with a natural and calm image of a couple lying on the beach relaxing together, from line 9 onwards however the poem changes tone and the image of an endless cavern "path of Orpheus" is given and this, along with the foreshadowing "by dead shells" in line three introduces the idea of death with the woman. At the end of the poem the tone is a sinister one where it seems her partner has foresaken her and abandoned her to her death. This poem may be reflecting a time where a partner refused to help Fleur in her life and this may be the cause of her feminist/"against coupling" view on life. James