pod (september 2023)

‘From the Journal of a Disappointed Man’ themes

* labour
* futility of life
* manhood

‘From the Journal of a Disappointed Man’ line structure

they are all similar in length which reflects the order systematic work that the men carry out

‘From the Journal of a Disappointed Man’ simplicity of structure

allows a deeper meaning to be explored

‘new pile into the pier’ ‘chains, pulleys, cranes’

the plosives form a powerful sonic texture that adds dynamism and drives the poem forwards

* the internal rhymes also mirror the swinging of machinery inside of the lines to centre the poems initial themes around labour

‘From the Journal of a Disappointed Man’ effect of enjambment

reflects the fascination that the narrator has with the men, it pulls him through the lines and draws him closer to them

* fuels the fascination

‘From the Journal of a Disappointed Man’ lack of punctuation effect

it stretches the lines to reflect the great difficulty of the mens work through equally laboured sentences

* it also reflects the way that the pile hangs and keeps sentences going to allow contemplation of life

‘after another abandoned’ ‘gaze down like a mystic into the water’

the liberating ‘a’ allows the men to break free from a dull life in the shackles of labour

* the mystic and magical language also changes the narrators perspective on the men

‘that left the pile still in mid-air, and me of course’

the two worlds collide in the last sentence

* the narrator is left with no direction conclusion which connects him to the men and their lack of interest in the pier
* the suspending comma represents the slice of time the men occupy in which to complete their purpose

‘On Her Blindness’ themes

* observation of mother’s deterioration
* less acceptance than Milton

‘On Her Blindness’ use of phatic language

forms a conversational tone to allow an intimate confession to the reader of the son’s inadequacies

* deliberately poetically unadorned

‘On Her Blindness’ tight couplets structure

they are inflexible which reinforces the idea of the ‘locked-in son’ as he is bound in a relationship with his mother that is not sufficient

they also reinforce…

the idea that he cannot access a divine level of poetic freedom due to his lack of ability to access a divine level of emotional understanding

‘On Her Blindness’ white space structure

symbolic of what the mother cannot see as her sight deteriorates, the son tries to bridge the gap between the couplets

‘the locked-in son’

catatonic and rigid showing how he is unable to comfort his mother in her time of need

* there is a sudden lapse of enjambment giving way to a finality enforcing end stopped line

heavy enjambment throughout the rest of poem has the effect of…

giving a dizzying effect across the white space to mimic the degradation of the mother’s sight

‘golden weather’ and ‘autumn trees’

correspond to the autumn of her life as she lies in the hospital creeping towards death

‘ablaze with colour, the ground royal with leaf-fall’ flash of figurative language

create images that oppose the riches the mother has lost in order to reinforce the feeling of loss

‘she was watching, somewhere, in the end’ final monostich

shows the son striding out alone without his mother

* there is a tentative belief in spirituality as he wonders if she is watching

thwarts it’s own desires for redemption as it…

laments on former positivity instead of attempting to reconcile insufficiencies during his mother’s decline

‘The Deliverer’ themes

* female infanticide in rural India
* national identities
* ancestral knowledge

‘The Deliverer’ tercets and singular line structure

where one line is separated it draws more attention to the terrifying narrative images

‘The Deliverer’ tone varying

tone varies from section to section

* 1st: dark description of the birth of girls, there is a slither of hope that someone comes and finds them
* 2nd: hope expands as girl meets her adopted parents
* 3rd: return of the dark overarching situation

‘The Deliverer’ first and last fading of stanzaic structure

shows the poem resisting reconciliation with national identities and instead fading into unsteady demise

‘because they were crippled or dark or girls’ tricolon

layers of inferiority with the female sex being degraded to the final layer

‘one of them was dug up by a dog’ unsparing descriptions

monosyllabic and containing harsh consonants render the visceral horror of the scenes the poet conjures

‘plucking the hair off hands’

the initial depersonalisation is contrasted by a pictorial idiosyncratic image in a manifestation of her neurotic restlessness

‘returns to twilight corners’

personal history pulls her back to the embedded biological and ancestral past knowledge

‘trudge home to lie down for their men again’

opens up to a wider social commentary to disavow easy blame, shows how the women are caught in a society that privileges men

‘The Lammas Hireling’ themes

* magic
* consequence
* folklore

‘The Lammas Hireling’ dramatic monologue

allows the reader to observe the events as a removed entity

‘The Lammas Hireling’ careful form

marshalled in four sestets varying in length and punctuation placement to allow the narrator to carefully shape the events and omit what he desires

‘her torn voice to his pale form’

attaches her voice to a new corporeal form to deliberately shape the coming events of the poem

‘and blew the small hour through his heart’ hypallage stresses

the narrator uses hypallage stresses in order to change the subject of the sentence so that the small hour pulls the trigger instead of himself

* this shapes him as subject to his environment not the master of it

‘lovely head’ language

homosexual desires bubble to the forefront of the poem through the language that appears, as he converts to Christian orthodoxy at the end of the poem the homosexual desires can only be accessed through language

‘Please Hold’ themes

* frustration with automated nature of modern life
* technology
* breakdown of complex communication

‘Please Hold’ narrow + long structure

reflect the never ending feeling of text messages and also the length of waiting on hold on a phone call

* there is a long automated stanza and then a very short human stanza to mimic these phone calls

‘Please Hold’ short lines and repetition

lines are shortened by splitting them in half and using short monosyllables which reflects the breakdown of human communication as it is replaced by automated robots

* repetition also does this and gives it a bleak and monotonous feel

‘this is the future, my wife says’

this refrain repeats to remind the narrator of the permanence of this situation, it is a state that will not move on but will stay stagnant forever more

‘account’ ‘number’ ‘noting repetition’

provides a systematic rhythm that holds the poem together as well as reinforcing themes of frustration and simplicity of communication

‘Please say Yes or No’

strips down language to bare minimum to reflect breakdown of communication in society

‘I scream Agent! and am cut off’

attempts to reach for a more complex communication but it is denied, this shows the futility of reaching for past connections

* also reinforced by the robotic nature of his wife repeating the refrain like the robot on the phone

‘guise of countless alternatives’

reinforces theme of the sinister side of technology, it is deliberately misleading and sly

‘Eine fucking Kleine Nachtmusik’

even Mozart’s classically beautiful symphony is tinged with hatred for the hold technology has on it

‘Please hold. Please grow old. Please grow cold.’

the assonance and repetition forms a mundane tone and a hollowness to mimic his hollow lifestyle, he sees himself growing old and dull in the grips of modern technology

‘This is the future. Please hold.’

he will always be on hold as will human interaction as the future is dominated by automation and technology