Poem analysis

pot, Khan - content, context, form and structure

CONTENT: A true story about a pot from Nigeria that was (and still is) kept in Manchester Museum, the pot is an extended metaphor for all those displaced people living in other countries

CONTEXT: Born in Leeds to a Pakistani family but moved to Manchester. She feels like she has a dual identity. She was commissioned to write this poem. A British law exists to allow instillations such as the British Museum to retain pieces which are considered stolen

FORM & STRUCTURE: Written in free verse. Rejects standard use of punctuation and capital letters, leading to a more colloquial tone (informal). First and second person perspective. Lots of Enjambment

With Birds You’re Never Lonely, Raymond Antrobus - content, context, form and structure

CONTENT: Māori people have been subject to violence and forced assimilation into western cultures by European settlers. They still suffer lower social status then many in New Zealand and are widely ignored by New Zealand policy makers

CONTEXT: Antrobus was born deaf but it wasn’t discovered until he was 6. Born in London to Jamaican father + English mother (poem is multicultural). Māori culture (Indigenous people of New Zealand) = knowledge is passed down. Theme of communication

FORM & STRUCTURE: Rhyming couplets = harmony + disharmony between nature and humanity. Last line = message. Enjambment = memory. Tonal shifts + perspective shifts. Rhetorical questions. Irregular structure = rambling inner monologue

Homing, Liz Berry - content, context, form and structure

CONTENT: Received pronunciation - or the ‘Queen’s English’ - is an accent, and it is only spoken by around 2% of the English population. Many people attempt to emulate it, and have elocution lessons to learn to speak it, because it is associated with professionalism and the upper classes. Recently, it is losing popularity, as it is associated with an establishment that people no longer wish to align themselves with.

CONTEXT: Liz Berry was born in the Black Country in the West of England. The BC was named due to the smoke from the many factories and coal mines during Industrial Revolution. In the Black Country dialect there are frequent glottal stops. Berry believes in preserving regional identity and cultural roots

FORM & STRUCTURE: Written in free verse. First person perspective. Lots of enjambments. Italicised language.

On an Afternoon Train, James Berry - content, context, form and analysis

CONTENT: Caribbean migrants encouraged by British government to help rebuild post-WWII Britain. Qualified professionals promised good jobs but given menial work instead. Faced significant racism from white British population

CONTEXT: J. Berry was Born in Jamaica. Came to England in 1948 after WW2. Was a part of the Windrush Generation. He explores the relationship between the west Indian and British communities. Quakers believe in human rights and social justice. During their worship, Quakers wait in silence until someone is moved by the spirit to speak, which is reflected in this poem

FORM & STRUCTURE: Written in free verse. Begins in media res. Written in first person perspective. Has 4 stanzas – unequal. There is occasional rhyme which symbolises ever-changing society

Thirteen, Caleb Femi - context, content, form and structure

CONTENT: Damilola Taylor was killed with a glass bottle, with the initial trial acquitting four youths after the key 14-year-old witness was deemed unreliable. Only after multiple trials were his killers finally convicted, with authorities acknowledging significant errors by the prosecution.

CONTEXT: Was born in Nigeria but moved to London when he was 7. Was an English teacher for 2 years. He writes about the assumptions that the police can make about a person based on his race. He lived on the same housing estate as Damilola Taylor, a 10-yr old boy who was stabbed to death in 2000. Black holes are formed when stars run out of the fuel that powers them.

FORM & STRUCTURE: The poem deliberately avoids traditional structure, using free verse with uneven stanzas and irregular meter. This may symbolize the child's powerlessness in the poem, or reflect the unregulated systemic injustice.

Lines Written in Early Spring - context, content, form and structure

CONTENT: This poem is a criticism of the impact that the human mind and its complex thoughts has upon the natural world, and our relationship to nature. There is no harmony or balance between humans and nature anymore, despite the fact that we are, at our core, animals.

CONTEXT: Wordsworth was a romantic poet. He believed in the power of nature and in the relationship between man and the natural world. He lived in the Lake District. Romantic poems criticise the Industrial Revolution and organised religion. They believe man has divorced themselves from nature and lacked creativity. There was much political unrest in both England and France

FORM & STRUCTURE: 6 quatrains, all ABAB – indicates a structured framework to the poem, perhaps implying that humanity imposes too rigid a structure on nature, which should not be structured in this way. Slant rhymes are used to indicate that there is a lack of harmony between nature and humanity.