A Case Of Murder a poem by Vernon

A Case Of Murder a poem by Vernon Scannell

A Case of Murder • A buzzing machine of soft black stuff, He sat and watched and he hated it, Snug in its fur, hot blood in a muff, And its mad gold stare and the way it sat Crooning dark warmth: he loathed all that. So he took Daddy's stick and he hit the cat. Then quick as a sudden crack in glass It hissed, black flash, to a hiding place In the dust and dark beneath the couch, And he followed the grin on his new-made face, A wide-eyed, frightened snarl of a grin, And he took the stick and he thrust it in, Hard and quick in the furry dark. The black fur squealed and he felt his skin Prickle with sparks of dry delight. Then the cat again came into sight, Shot for the door that wasn't quite shut, But the boy, quick too, slammed fast the door: The cat, half-through, was cracked like a nut And the soft black thud was dumped on the floor. • (continued on the next page)

Then the boy was suddenly terrified And he bit his knuckles and cried; But he had to do something with the dead thing there. His eyes squeezed beads of salty prayer But the wound of fear gaped wide and raw; He dared not touch the thing with his hands So he fetched a spade and shovelled it And dumped the load of heavy fur In the spidery cupboard under the stair Where it's been for years, and though it died It's grown in that cupboard and its hot low purr Grows slowly louder year by year: There'll not be a corner for the boy to hide When the cupboard swells and all sides split And the huge black cat pads out of it.

Task 1: Read the poem – “A Case of Murder” by Vernon Scannell and, if you have access to the internet, go on to youtube to listen to one or more versions of the poem on there.

Task 2: Sum up in about 15 -20 words what the poem is about to show you’ve understood the whole poem. Make sure you include answers to the following questions in your summary, or just answer these questions if you find it hard to write a summary: 1. 2. 3. 4. What did the boy do to the cat? What did he feel about the cat? Why might he have felt like this and done what he did? How does he feel at the end of the poem?

Task 3: Imagine you are the boy in the poem who has now grown up and is looking back on the incident in the poem. What might he now say, feel and think about this? Did he have reasons for doing what he did? Plan your answers to these questions for a piece of writing then choose one of the writing tasks on the next page.

Task 3 continued: Choice of writing tasks: 1. A diary entry (write in the first person as if you are him looking back on what happened and why). 2. A play script outlining his conversation with a friend eg. The young man (the boy): Do you know what I did when I was young? His friend: What? The young man: Something really awful… really, really terrible. 1. An interview on the local radio on a programme about things I wish I hadn’t done. eg. Interviewer: So what exactly did you do that you wish you hadn’t? The young man (the boy): …….

Task 4: The cat is described in some detail in lines 8 – 17 of the poem. Copy out and fill in the chart on the next page to show you understand how the poet has created the picture of the cat through the clever use of words and techniques: i) In column 2 write in words or lines from the poem which are examples of each technique named in the first column. ii) Explain what the words and devices used show us about what the boy thinks about the cat. The first is done for you.

Techniques used to An example from describe the poem of this the cat Words which make “a …. machine” it sound like an object An explanation of what it shows us about the boy’s thoughts and feelings about the cat. It makes it sound as if he does not see it as a living thing with feelings. A word using onomatopoeia “ An adjective “ A comparison /metaphor “ A description of how it looks or what it does “

Task 5: The title of the poem An evaluation of the title: 1. Do you think the poem’s title is good or not? Explain why? Or why not? 2. If you had to find another title for it, what would you call the poem? Explain why.

Task 6: Creative Writing Choose ONE of the following titles to base a piece of writing on (it can be real or imagined) – it should be at least 5 paragraphs long and 200 words: 1. Your own story called “A Case of Murder” 2. A time I regretted doing something. 3. A time when I was frightened. 4. My pet – one you loved or one that turned out to be your worst nightmare Say when you got it, why you chose it, describe looking after it and incidents you recall to do with it. (See next page for guidance)

Checklist for good writing 1. Structure writing so it’s clear and logical – chronological or include a non- chronological part – looking back. 2. Use paragraphs correctly – for a change of time, place, person and topic. Vary the lengths too to vary the pace and emphasise certain details. 3. Use techniques – as many as you can - such as similes, imagery good adjectives and adverbs), metaphors, personification, lists of 3, lists of synonyms, superlatives, alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia (Find out what these are if you don’t know and make notes on them before you write) (continued on next slide)

Checklist for good writing (contd) 4. Vocabulary – check you haven’t used any boring words like walked or said. Be as ambitious as you can. Use a thesaurus to find better words. 5. Spelling – do your best to spell correctly especially commonly used words. 6. Punctuation – use full stops and commas correctly, but don’t forget question and exclamation marks or apostrophes either and try to use a semi-colon and a colon. 7. Sentence construction – make sure all sentences make sense and try to vary the openings to sentences using When, Whilst, Before and After or start with a –ly, -ing or –ed word.