AS Literature - revision notes on the poems

I stumbled across this English revision blog, which includes notes on the poems we are studying (written by students). You might find it useful - especially to catch up if you have missed a poem or two.

Genetics - blog post by Lisa & Ailbhe

Genetics by Sinead Morrissey

This poem talks about the importance of marriage and the celebrated relationship between a mother and father even though they have separated.  It talks about how even though the parents have separated; ‘the child’ is a representation of their marriage and love they had once shared. The poem ends with the narrator speaking to who we believe is her lover and she is telling him the importance of marriage.

One interpretation we made was that the palms and hands were a metaphor for the mother and father’s relationship. It is given the actions of repelling and also linking together. ‘They may have been repelled to separate hands’/ ‘but in me they touch where fingers link to palms’. To emphasise this, the poet refers to a children's game where the hands are put together with the index fingertips touching, knuckles of the other fingers touching, and the thumbs bent inwards. The index fingers, children are told, represents the steeple or tower of the church, the knuckles the body of the church and the folded thumbs the door. When turned over so the palms and fingers are exposed, representing the contents of the church. "Here is the church... here is the steeple... open the door... and here are all the people. ”  The third stanza shows us the opinions of family members and friends who witnessed the coming together of the parents. ‘but friends who quarry for their image by a river’. This shows us that the relative are searching and trying to remember the memories of  the good times they shared ( photos, videos); “nothing left of their togetherness but friends” – brings about the question of who’s side do the couple’s friends go on?

The poem is a poem is a Villanelle form which is very structured and has a strict rhyme scheme, 5 stanzas with 3 lines however the last stanza includes 4 lines. Stanza 1 to 5 is recognition of her parents’ marriage and the last stanza gives us different approach as she is speaking to her lover. ‘ I’ll bequeath my fingers, if you bequeath your palms’.  Rhyming words like words such as ‘palms’, ‘hands’ and ‘demands’ which may at first seem shaky (making them half rhymes), however this helps to highlight that children are not carbon copies of their parents, a direct link to the title. But that there is always a link despite physical separation gives us different approach as she is speaking to her lover. ‘I’ll bequeath my fingers, if you bequeath your palms’. The use of repetition is repeated at the beginning of the poem and also at the end: ‘My fathers in my hands, but my mothers in my palms.’ This shows us how close her and her parents her even though they are not together. 

Please Hold - blog post by Payal & Jess

‘Please Hold’

The literal meaning of ‘Please Hold’ is about a man who is losing his patience when he is on the phone as he finds himself continuously talking to a voice mail machine. He gets angrier by the minute yet his wife is explaining to him this is the way things are nowadays. I think that the in depth meaning of the poem is about the future and how it is expensive as everything revolves around technology and this male speaker happens to be old fashioned with his ways and has not accepted robots, machines and other sources of technology; therefore, I think this poem is a way of him expressing his worries and concerns about the future. He mimics the voice mail and all its ‘countless options’ but implies that with whatever answer you give it takes you to a ‘dead end’ this creates the idea of voice mails being like mazes, which shows that the speaker finds this new technology confusing.

The structure of this poem is very irregular. There are 2 stanzas of which contain different amounts of lines. The first stanza is much longer than the second it contains 50 lines whereas the final stanza contains only 3 lines. The long stanza could be to exaggerate how voice mails are long and never ending just like the stanza. It could also show how passionate the writer is about this topic. That he is so angry that he is continuously writing more and his hate for technology is never-ending.

The language used in ‘Please Hold’ is informal as though it’s spoken. For instance, ‘I’m talking to a robot’ suggests the speaker is explaining the event to the reader. However, the reader can understand it’s literally a mental rant. It’s more the tone that is significant as it’s sarcastic using dry humour, common to this Irish poet. This tone may be to emphasise how relatable the poem is and the point of this poem that the evolution of technology reduces humanity.

He uses a lot of repetition perhaps to mimic the voice mail as they often repeat themselves or also to show that he has heard these phrases numerous times and has now memorised them. He often repeats the saying, ‘my wife says, this is the future’; this could be to show that all he ever hears is his wife telling him this is the future now because technology is improving day by day and something new is invented everyday. He then compares the agent on the phone to a robot. Implying that even if they passed the phone through to a real person whatever they say will be scripted just like the robot. There is no real conversation and once again he thinks that ‘this is the future’.

One important feature of this poem is the repetition of the German phrase ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ (or ‘A Little Night Music’). It is a popular piece of classical music by Mozart commonly used as ‘holding music’ when one is put on hold. The phrase is used to refer back to the title and the main theme of the poem but also the repetition, and particularly the swearing that breaks the last use of the phrase, is created to accentuate the irritation of the speaker, written by the poet as though the reader is listening to the music themselves.

As the exam will require comparing two poems, it is important to discuss what poems can be linked with ‘Please Hold’. Clearly, one possible link is ‘The Fox in the National Museum of Wales’ as both centre around the approach of the  future. Another poem ‘Please Hold’ could be linked to is Barber’s ‘Material’ as both speakers dislike the loss of humanity and the destruction technology causes. However, both comparative poems lack the same structure as O’Driscoll’s ‘Please Hold’. On a smaller note, a poem one could compare this poem to, in terms of structure, is ‘Effects’ as both speakers express themselves in a conversational manner and both have a irregular pattern- the rhyming of ‘Effects’ and the repetition of ‘Please Hold’.   

The Deliverer - blog post by Ellie & Emily

The Deliverer by Tishani Doshi

The title ‘The Deliverer’ arises many different interpretations of what a deliverer could be associated with; some of the most prominent ideas being hospitals, babies and prophets. These first impressions help the reader formulate a prediction before reading the poem and in this case allow us to understand the poem whilst we are reading it. Tishani Doshi used ‘The Deliverer’ to share a story of a young girl’s adoption and the frequentness of this situation in her country. In some cultures a male baby is much more valued than the birth of a female due to the fact that it is important for a son to continue the family name; many baby girls were disregarded and left to die.

The poems structure is split into three parts with the use of asterisks in between stanzas, these act as a barrier or a divide between cultures; one being the characters old home and the other being her new adoptive home in America. This split between the two cultures presents the polar opposites of the two places. In addition to this the number of lines in each stanza is effected by the split, within the third section each stanza has exactly three lines for three stanzas where as the last section the number of lines in each stanza slowly recede. One interpretation of this could be that the number of lines represents the amount of joy being associated with the child; in the third section it begins with three stanzas to show the initial joy of the possibility of the new born being a boy but this declines after they ‘feel for penis or no penis,’, indicating that the joy has been lost as the baby was not male. Another interpretation is that majority of the action in the poem being a routine as the majority of the stanzas are organised into three lines but once again the pause at the line previously mentioned above implies some form of disruption.

Following the ideas of conflicting cultures above, there are clear differences within the sections with the use of verbs. The child was treated as an inanimate object in the first and last section with the use of detached verbs: ‘stuffed’ ‘ abandoned’ ‘toss’, by using these impersonal actions the reader is given the impression that the mothers described in the deliverer have been almost conditioned into having no attachment in regards to their own baby girls. This contrasts with the verbs used in the middle section: ‘seen or touched’ ‘crying’, these verbs come with more relation to emotions and sensitivity which is lacked in the surrounding sections. The almost juxtaposing verbs reinforce the barrier between the west culture and east.

Readers may interpret the voice of this poem to be an American child talking about their adoptive sister from the line ‘this is the one my mother will bring’ but it could alternatively be interpreted as the adopted child talking about herself in third person. This interpretation could explain the conflict of cultures being a key theme throughout the poem; as if she feels that she is no longer the child that was thrown away by her biological mother but also realising her loss of true heritage.

The Deliverer could be compared to ‘To my nine-year-old self’ as they both show a sense of disconnection with themselves or their past.

AS Comms - the evolution of African American male beauty trends

'Giuseppe' - blog entry by Safia & Celine

"Giuseppe" by Roderick Ford explores the theme of ostracization during times of war and strife. It explores the dire consequences of discrimination for both the victim and its perpetrators. Ford uses the metaphor of a mermaid washed up on the beach to represent the dehumanisation of migrants. Ford explores xenophobia through his use of imagery that evokes historical examples: "that in Sicily in World War Two".  The reference to the Second World War foregrounds the theme of ostracization and migration. Ford's use of 'She' instead of any actual name may show their systematic dehumanisation of her. The speaker is disgusted by his Uncle Giuseppe's actions, but the ending is optimistic, "and he could not look me in the eye".

The reference to plants like "Bourgainvella" which typically grows in places foreign to Sicily, reflects how communities react positively to migration when it benefits them. 

Rodrick uses the example of WWII with the Nazi slaughtering of many Jews to bring in a sense of realism, helping the reader to understand the dreadful aspects being presented in the poem. Moreover, Giuseppe has a negative tone due to the seriousness of the  poem with words such as ‘captive’ , ‘dry’, ‘cut’, ‘burial ’and  ‘starvation’ all having negative connotation linking to being trapped. The collective use of these words discloses the loss of humanity in a moment of war, also, the line ‘starvation forgives men many things’ reflects how instinct are altered when desperation is high and the outcomes of brutality it produces. Furthermore, the constant contradiction for example ‘a fish can’t speak’, ‘but she screamed like a woman’, is used throughout the poem to juxtapose the disgusting actions towards the mermaid with the approach of the people, to reveal the common theme of human trying to dehumanize people as a way to justified their killings. Also the smile ‘screamed like a woman’ further emphasise the contradiction by the mermaid being compared to a woman. This personifies the mermaid allowing the reader to level with mermaid and feel sympathetic.

The split in generation highlighted in the Giuseppe shows how even the actions which occur years ago can leave a long lasting guilt to linger throughout generation. This link to the atmosphere in post-war Germany, this consisted of the baby boomers hostility towards ex-Nazi and their mocking of the ones who were trying to justify or ignore their contributions to such activates in WWII. This theme is mirrored in Giuseppe ‘couldn’t look me in the eye’ shows the uncle cannot rationalise his misdoing even with the constant dehumanizing of the mermaid, for instance, the reference to her never learning to speak, being simple and just being a fish. In addition, the repetition of the mermaid not being able to ‘speak’ is significant showing yet again the copying mechanism of ignoring ones human characteristic is used by human. Additionally, this reveals how groups or people are made to feel inferior and voiceless so those apart who are superior don’t identify themselves similar to them by denying them any humanity, allowing them to become emotionally unattached.

Giuseppe is dominated with free verse for example, in stanza two ‘me’, ‘two’, aquarium’ and ‘well’ being are an example of the pattern throughout. This reinforces and strengthens the serious and uncertainty of the poem, due to the fact it doesn’t follow a more playful rhyme allowing there to be an impactful message. Moreover, the mermaid being the protagonist of the poem is symbolic, as she is used to represent those who are treated unfairly and marginalized. Identity is also made significant because the confusion on how to address the mermaid is made explicit ‘she, it’, ‘she was only a fish’, ‘like a woman’ and ‘was proof she was just a fish’. Almost reflects to the reader the uncles uncomfortable tone when sharing the story with the persona, also, by the poem being in a first person narrative it makes it more believable and imitate. Making the reader feel like the experience and feeling being told by the persona directly to them, thus the reader can sympathise with the message of the poem.

AS Literature - poems we have covered so far - updated