Read the poem below, then respond to the question that follows.

Night Shift

My mother leaves the house at ten past nine,

her keys a small bright argument of sound,

and the dark takes her like a tide takes line,

the car's red eyes dissolving down the ground.

I do the dishes slowly, plate by plate,

and listen to the fridge rehearse its hum.

The clock above the stove has learnt to wait;

it counts the hours out until she'll come.

At dawn she drifts back in, a coat of cold

still clinging to her, hospital and rain,

and sits, and lets the kettle's small gold

light steady her, and we don't speak. The plain

fact is this: she stayed awake for strangers

so I could sleep. I learnt that love is chores,

and shift work, and a thousand quiet dangers

faced at the end of other people's corridors.

Question: How does the poet use language and structure to represent love and sacrifice in 'Night Shift'? Write an analytical response of three to four paragraphs.

A strong analytical response has:

• An introduction that names the text and states your interpretation (your thesis) directly.

• TEEL body paragraphs: Topic sentence, Evidence (a quotation), Explanation of the technique and its effect, Link back to the question.

• Integrated quotations: short, embedded in your own sentences, not dropped in alone.

• Precise metalanguage: simile, metaphor, personification, enjambment, rhyme scheme, caesura, imagery, tone.

• A conclusion that draws the techniques together into a final statement about meaning.