A detailed line by line analysis of the poem "Assassination" created by a 90% IEB matric 2020 English HL student (top 1% in the subject).
Explains the meanings of lines, figures of speech used, structure and more.
‘Assassination’ -Don L Lee (1942-)
MLK imagery and his death
it was wild.
the Key punctuation and play with
bullet hit high. upper and lowercase letters
(the throat-neck)
& from everywhere, Imagery of assassins/police
the motel, from under bushes and cars,
from around corners and across streets, Repetition
out of the garbage cans and from rat holes
in the earth Sound devices
they came running.
with
guns
drawn
they came running
toward the King—
all of them
fast and sure—
as if
the King
was going to fire back.
they came running,
fast and sure,
in the
wrong
direction.
Title
The targeted murder of an important person (MLK in 1968). One man, James Earl Ray,
was arrested but many believe the conspiracy that police and government were behind
the murder (poet presents this version).
it was wild.
Lowercase: chaos, no sense of order, absurd event. Use of 60’s slang telling us as it was:
full of frenzy and craziness.
the
Own line to introduce the single bullet that hit MLK.
bullet hit high.
Alliteration: hard and harsh ‘h’ to emphasise the impact of the shot. The shooter was a
trained sniper who knew what he was doing: he had a direct target for a successful kill.
(the throat-neck)
Parenthesis conveys extra information in the form of a descriptive detail and acts as a
visual pun representing the bullet enclosed in MLK’s skin. The hyphen creates a
compound noun describing the area in which he was hit (MLK’s voice was taken away).
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller TKahn. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.52. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
