Detailed notes on 20 poems: Please Hold, Out of the Bag, History, The Furthest Distances I've Travelled, Material, Effects, A Minor Role, On Her Blindness, Giuseppe, The Lammas Hireling, Look We Have Coming to Dover!, Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass, An Easy Passage, Genetics, The Gun, The Deliver...
● Title shows an automatic phone response that is monotonous but polite
● Poem satirises modern society and digital technology usage
● One long stanza and second stanza has three lines showing litera disconnection
● “Telephone”, “account” and “number” repeated and devoid of figurative devices
● Negative “none” and “nothing” removes humanness resembling a song but it’s bleak
● Parody “now meet your needs… looting” and “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” classic
serenade
● Irony “your future here” metaphor for technology and “please” is artificial kindness
● Satire “no options” and “my account [really] my robot’s”
● Dark humour “grow cold” shows mechanical nostalgia rhyming with hold
● Possible comparisons: A Minor Role, On Her Blindness and Ode on a Grayson Perry
Urn
Out of the Bag - Seamus Heaney
● Title is about the miracle of new life and exposure of revelations
● Bag is about secret of childbirth and how deception is shown
● Four sectioned poems in tercets showing macabre and repulsion; iambic pentameter
● Tactile details “satin”, “lukewarm” and “soft hands”
● Verbs “standing” and repetition “again and again” shows cycle of time
● Sublime - doctor is “like a hypnotise” meaning ominous and very powerful
● Anaphora “and” shows journey of self discovery
● Ellipsis “this God” and “nearly fainted” repetition shows awe and despair
● Greek and other historical references “Peter Levi”, “Epidaurus” and “Hygeia”
● Possible comparisons: The Deliverer, Effects and Look We Have Coming to Dover!
History - John Burnside
● Title relates to timelines, future events, consequences and memories
● Lyrical enquiry into our natural selves and modern lifestyles
● Indentation, blank verse and varied line length shows freedom and restriction
, ● Locational distance shows serene, carefree coasts and anxious chaos
● “Sea shells shreds” sibilance and syntax “plugged into the sky”
● Aesthetic imagery “dune slacks”, “jamjars” and “sticklebacks” - life is vast
● Triad “living creatures, forests and estuaries:” while colon shows flow of thoughts
● Coastalisation “gasoline” and one quatrain is philosophical as they attempt to recover
● “Today” history is continually developing but it is “irredeemable”
● Possible comparisons: Material, Effects and Genetics
The Furthest Distances I've Travelled - Leontia Flynn
● “Furthest” superlative, “distances” plural and “I’ve” persona pronoun
● First person, semi-autobiographical account of nostalgic and regretful traveling days
● Eight stanzas with four to five lines each and disorganized quatrains
● Metaphor “holidaying in other people’s lives” shows physical travel and people
contrast
● Similes “airport like a cell” and “as clear as a tannoy” shows differences in travel
● Exotic place living “zagreb”, “siberia” and “krakow” reveals zeal for travel
● Paradox “destiny” and “anonymity” as speaker finds and loses themselves
● Triad “alien pants, cinema stabs, the throwaway” and only two full stops imply
energy
● Poem ends with “however” - ambiguous hinge and close of the poem is dark
● Possible comparisons: Material, Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn and Look We Have
Coming to Dover!
Material - Ros Barber
● Title shows physical belonging and hints at sentimental values
● Hanky is a symbol of the past as well as the poet’s relationship with her mum
● Nine stanzas in octaves and “hanky” repeated every stanza except the seventh
● Repetition “step-together” showing formality and “spittled and scrubbed” sibilance
● Constant tetrameter with few interruptions and half rhymes “grief” and “sleeve”
● Past “George with his dodgy foot” and modern world “neglected kids” contrast
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