Out of the bag

‘All of us came in Doctor Kerlin's bag.’

• idea children are protected from pain & reality of childbirth - innocence and misconception.

• Ironically declarative, no figurative language

• Paints Dr as a conjurer, God-like, attributing mystery of life to him

‘Those nosy, rosy, big, soft hands of his
In the scullery basin, its lined insides
(The colour of a spaniel's inside lug)’

• ‘Nosy’ paints hands as intrusive, nursery rhyme rhythm is child-like. This focus on hand imagery is comforting yet cartoonish and uncanny imagery. Suggests a mix of emotions. Assonance ‘o’

• An image that describes colour but also tactile (touch), evokes feeling of velvet

• Use of parenthesis to describe bag, intrudes into next part of the poem

‘the trap-sprung mouth
Unsnibbed and gaping wide. Then like a hypnotist
Unwinding us, he'd wind the instruments’

• Personification of the bag = monstrous and ready to swallow.

• ‘Trap sprung mouth’, creates an ominous, frightening and claustrophobic image

• Simile = a magic figure, transfixes and fascinates

• Repetition of ‘wind’ slows pace

‘Poeta doctus Peter Levi says
Sanctuaries of Asclepius (called asclepions)’

• Moving away from the child-like and immature voice to an older, educated voice

• Links between poetry, religion and healing; doctor Kerlin has a new incarnation as Peter Levi, an archaeologist, poet, Jesuit and teacher.

• Also adds Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, but sometimes pushes beyond natural limits. He is associated with secret knowledge, ritual, and divine power, possibly linking back to previous God-like image of Dr

• These figures show how this curiosity has been carried into his adult life, with the desire to uncover the mysterious nature of life

‘to assist and be asked
In that hoarsened whisper of triumph,

"And what do you think
Of the new wee baby the doctor brought for us all
When I was asleep?"'

• The ‘whisper of triumph’ forms a dramatic climax that brings the poem to a conclusion.

• Despite misconceptions and Greek mythology, the speaker finally recognises the role of his Mother

• Unnatural image of ‘asleep’ provides the missing puzzle peice to the child’s misconception, the mother feeds into this innocent narrative and paints Dr as a magical figure. Mother uses colloquial lang to express to child

Form

• No rhyme scheme. The use of enjambment creates a free flow.