Edwin Morgan Some good things about Glasgow Some

Edwin Morgan

� Some - - good things about Glasgow: Some bad things about Glasgow: Commonwealth Games. Shopping! Nice bars and Restaurants Top universities. -Neds m -Knife crime -Buckfast -Sectarianism

� List 5 disabilities someone could have: I. e. Physically disables (in a wheelchair), Deaf, etc… Discuss in your pairs if you know someone or have witnessed someone with a disability. -What did you think? - What did you feel? –Did you do anything?

� This poem is about a disabled man, in a diner, who needs to rely on the help of those around him in order to do simple things like get to the toilet. � In pairs find a small area of space in the classroom and number yourselves 1 & 2. � 1 - cover your eyes. � 2 - Spin your partner. � 1 - try to find your partner without looking! � How difficult was this process?

� “his hands have no power” � “The dismal hump looming over him forces his head down. ” � “he is staring at the floor or would be, if he could see” � “I notice now his stick, once painted white” � “Long blind, hunchback born, half-paralysed” � What can we infer about the man based on these quotations?

�A simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another using like or as. � This gives a more vivid picture because of the similarity between the two things compared. � For example: � ‘We go together like Chinese food and chocolate pudding. ’ Will Ferrell. � ‘That rock on your finger is like a tumour. ’ Beyonce and Jay Z � ‘Life is like a pipe and I’m a tiny penny, rolling up the walls inside. ’ � Amy Winehouse.

� “He stands in his stained beltless gabardine like a monstrous animal caught in a tent in some story. ” � What man? does this comparison tell us about the

� This suggests the size of the man, and shows how badly deformed he is as his disability has made him seem animal rather than human. � Comparing his gaberdine coat to a tent shows that it seems ill-fitting and looks wrong on him.

� Later in the poem, still describing the old man, Morgan notes his: � ‘hands like wet leaves’

� What image does this suggest in your mind about the man’s hands? � Write your own sentence(s) starting with these words: � The simile ‘hands like wet leaves’ suggests….

� There is another simile near the start of the second verse. � Find it, and write your own explanation of it as before. � The simile ‘A few yards of floor are like a landscape to be negotiated…’ suggests….

�A metaphor is when a poet says something IS something else. � i. e. The girls eyes were diamonds. � The teacher was a dragon. � The room was a pig sty. � There poem are NO metaphors in this particular

� In this figure of speech, an inanimate, non-living, object is written about as if it was a person or a living creature. For example: � The wind whistled through the sails. � The sun treads a path through the woods.

� ‘The dismal hump looming over him forces his head down. ’ � Can the hump on his back be pushing and forcing him? Of course not — it is not a living creature. � So what is Morgan suggesting by making the lump ‘seem’ alive? � Morgan is suggesting the hump seems alive because it looks as though it has deliberately pushed the man out of shape.

� When a word sounds like what it is describing, we call this onomatopoeia. � Words like thud, bang, splash, yawn and howl are all examples of this technique. � Most onomatopoeic words are to do with either sound or movement. � Onomatopoeia vivid. is used to make the writing sound more

� An example of onomatopoeia in the poem is: � ‘slithering with a dull clatter’ � Look at the quotation above. � Which is the onomatopoeic word? � In what way does that word’s sound suggest its meaning? � Write your own sentence(s) starting: � ‘The word (quote it) suggests…’

� When letters or sounds are repeated at the beginnings of words we call this alliteration � For example: � Steve seldom smiled on Sundays. � Silently the spider spun its silken strands. � Alliteration makes you notice the words more and draws your attention to what the writer is saying.

� Look �A at the line below from the poem. cup capsizes along the formica � What effect does the alliteration in this line have? � Why do you think the writer began his poem this way?

� Of course all words that a writer uses are chosen in some way. � But when we talk about word choice as a technique we mean that certain words are very carefully and deliberately chosen to obtain particular effects.

� Answer the following questions about some of the word choice in the poem. � 1 What can we tell about the snack bar from the fact that the old man’s stool is ‘fixed to the floor’? (Line 5) � 2 What effect is created by the writer’s use of ‘dismal’ in line 7? � 3 What effect is created by the writer’s description of the man’s gaberdine coat as ‘stained, beltless’ in line 9? � 4 What effect is created by the writer’s use of the word ‘fumbling’ in line 20? � 5 Why does the writer use the word ‘contraption’ to describe the hand drier in line 56?

� Repetition is another structural technique: when a writer deliberately uses a word or phrase more often than you would normally expect. � One example of repetition in this poem is: � ‘And slowly we go down. ’

� This also slows down the reader, making us pay more attention to the repeated words. � What � Here, does this example of repetition suggest? the repetition suggests the difficulty of the journey down the stairs.

� Read lines 57 to 65 of the snack bar poem. � Find two more examples of repetition. � In each case, quote them, and explain what effect Morgan gets by using that technique here.

�A � contrast is a form of opposite. Whenever you get a question about contrast, to get full marks you need to look at both sides. � It’s not a contrast to say: � Jane is short and middle aged � but it is a contrast if you say: � While Jane is short and middle aged, Kenny is tall and young.

� Read lines 63 to 65 of the poem. The writer twice uses contrasting, opposite pairs of words. � • How can the old man’s steps be at once ‘faltering’ and ‘unfaltering’? � • How can their journey across the floor be at once ‘endless’ and ‘not endless’? � • What overall effect does Morgan create by using contrasts in this way?

� Our attitude is how we feel about something, our opinion of it or reaction to it. �A writer’s attitude is often shown through other techniques, and you may need to read quite a large chunk of text before you can work out what the attitude is.

� Re-read the poem. Then write a mini essay to explain the writer’s attitude to the man he helps. Use the opening below to help you, and back up the attitude identified with quotations from the poem. � The writer’s attitude towards the older man is that he feels sorry for him, yet in a way also admires him…

� You will often be asked why the ending of a text is suitable. This might involve looking at the last line(s) of a poem, or the last sentence or paragraph of a prose text. Endings can be suitable in a number of ways. For example: � • the ending may sum up what the writer has been saying � • the ending may emphasis a point made in the text � • the ending may be humorous � • the ending may give the reader something to think about � • the ending may refer neatly back to something found earlier in the text.

� We are going to look at the ending of the poem in two ways. � 1 Read the whole of the last verse. In what ways is this a suitable ending to the poem? You answer should be a paragraph and you should use some quotations from that verse to justify what you say. � 2 Focus on the final line. In what way is this a suitable ending to the poem?