True North SIMON ARMITAGE Read the poem What

True North SIMON ARMITAGE

Read the poem … �What is the poem about?

What is the significance of the title? �Think about ‘true north’ as opposed to ‘magnetic north’ on a compass. ‘Magnetic North’ can tend to shift whereas ‘True North’ converges with the North Pole and is constant. Armitage comes from the north of England.

Discuss the tone and speaker of the poem �What age do you think the speaker is and why? �The tone is quite complicated as the adult/mature speaker seems to reflect upon a visit home when he was a student. Throughout your analysis, look out for words and phrases that reveal a subtle disapproval and disappointment in his younger self. �When was the poem set? What clues are you using from the poem?

The difference between poet and speaker… �When a ‘poet’ writes a poem, he/she may create a persona whom we refer to as the ‘speaker’. Whilst we should treat the poet and the speaker separately, in some poems, which includes this poem, there may be enough evidence to assume the poet and the speaker are the same person.

Language – stanza 1 �Which words/phrases suggest a rather nonchalant/blasé attitude regarding his journey? �What impression do you gain of his journey?

Language – stanza 2 �Portsmouth is geographically opposed to the speaker’s home-town. Why is the adult speaker keen to highlight that the subject/his younger self has only been away for ‘one term’? �Why has his used the word ‘Poly’ – what does this suggest about the speaker? �Look at the phrases ‘clutch of houses’ and ‘toy snow -storm’. What does this suggest about the subject’s attitude? �Look at the verb ‘settled’. What does this suggest about the northern town?

Language – stanza 3 �Why does the subject expect a welcome with ‘flags and bunting’? �Why does the speaker use the phrase ‘stir it’ when talking about his younger self? �Look at how the tone changes from celebratory to ordinary between stanzas 3 and 4.

Language – stanza 4 �In this stanza the speaker describes ‘two men’ in the ‘Old New Inn’. What impression do you gain of the men through the reference to ‘arm-wrestle’? �What does the verb ‘dithered’ suggest about the subject’s attitude towards his home-town? �How does the simile ‘like a compass needle’ relate to the title of the poem?

Language – stanza 5 �The ‘Malvinas’ is the Spanish for the Falklands. What impression do you gain of the subject through him using this term? �What is the effect of the repetition ‘wrong’? �What impression do you gain of the subject through ‘I hosted a new game?

Language - stanza 6 �What impression do you gain about the local’s attitude towards the subject through the simile, ‘like a snare drum’? �Why has Armitage used the phrase, ‘the penny dropped’?

Language – stanza 7 �Look carefully at the verbs ‘yawned’ and ‘lectured’. What impression do you gain of the guests and the speaker as a younger man? �Bothnia is in Sweden. Why is the subject talking about wolves in Bothnia? �What do you understand from the last line of the poem? How do the wolves serve as a metaphor for the subject’s attitude towards his home-town?

Layout and structure �What is the effect of the enjambment throughout the poem? �There is no evidence of a rhyme scheme – why?

What is your personal response to the poem? �You may appreciate, from reading the poem, that whilst you may move away and change, those you leave behind remain settled and constant. There may come a time when you realise that you may not be as knowledgeable and worldly as you initially thought.