Summary Strangers forever IEB Poem

Summary Strangers forever IEB Poem What is the extended metaphor? - Life is compared to a train journey and the people in the speaker's life are compared to strangers in his life Context of the poem - Poet is an immigrant and therefore feels a sense of alienation Themes in the poem - Separateness, alienation, lack of understanding, change, self reflection Why are we strangers? - There is always something we keep to ourselves Why has the last line swapped the words of the title around (an inversion)? - To put emphasis on the word "Forever" How does the last few lines explain that are we forever strangers? - We can only open up to a certain extent because there is always a part of us that will remain entirely our own What does the fact that the poem is one stanza imply? - We have one life (and the people we meet in the poem are the people we meet in life What is the tone of the poem? - Monotony. It indicates a feeling of acceptance, nothing will change and that the feeling is endless. It is possibly referring to the nature of everyday life What is implied by "strangers"? - There is a lack of depth What is implied by "Each of us"? - Everyone will be stangers with everyone and on one is exempted How do we know the poem is free verse? - The lines are different lengths, there is lots of enjambment, there is not a lot of puntuation, there is no rhyme scheme What is implied by "passenger" - We do not have control of the destination (destination is affected by chance). We will eventually leave our seats and the next generation will take our place "We do not know where?" implies... - We are unsure of what happens to us in the afterlife What are the feelings linked to not knowing? - Fear and uncertainty. But the passengers are not afraid because everyone is going through the same thing and that is comforting What does the tense of the poem imply? - The poem is in the present tense because life is happening right now What technique is "Who can read the whispers... even from you?" - Rhetorical question. There is no answer because the answer is implied in the question (i.e. no one can). It highlights self-awareness What the "whisper of your mind"? - This refers to the subtle, subconsious, thoughts and feelings What is the overall message? - The overall message of the poem is about how there will always be certain parts of people that remain hidden to themselves and others, either consciously or subconsciously, and how this will mean that people will never truly know others and therefore remain strangers forever What was the poet's intention? - The poet's intention is to highlight human nature of how people consciously or subconsciously keep parts of themselves hidden to the outside world, family, friends and sometimes even to themselves What imagery is used? - The extended metaphor (comparing life to a train ride), the metaphor in lines 13-14 (comparing expression of feelings to opening a window) and irony What is the mood of the poem? - The poet is reflective and pensive about human nature and this rubs off on the reader. Therefore, the overall mood of the poem seems reflective as we might think deeply about ou own personalities and our self-awareness. There is a difference between TONE and MOOD: - TONE is the way the poet has created the MOOD and reflects the way he/she feels about the subject matter.