Preview

Unseen Poetry

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
660 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Unseen Poetry
Higher 2006- Unseen Poetry Practice

‘In the Can’
In the poem, a prisoner describes life in a prison.

Every second is a fishbone that sticks
In the throat. Every hour another slow
Step towards freedom. We’re geriatrics
Waiting for release, bribing time to go.
I’ve given up trying to make anything
Different happen. Mornings: tabloids, page three.
Afternoons: videos or Stephen King,
Answering letters from relatives who bore me.
We’re told not to count, but the days mount here
Like thousands of identical stitches
Resentfully sewn into a sampler,
Or a cricket bat made out of matches.
Nights find me scoring walls like a madman,
Totting up runs: one more day in the can.

Rosie Jackson.

Higher Unseen Poetry -Example Response

‘In the Can’

This poem is very interesting in the inmate’s attitude towards crime. He does not show any signs of remorse or wishing he had not done it. But neither does it have the emotions of the crime not being his fault.

The poem describes the life that the prisoners lead in jail. The phrase
”I’ve given up trying to make anything different happen” evokes sympathy for the boredom they must be suffering. “like thousands of identical stitches” tries to make us empathise with them. It then talks of cruelty by saying he has become “like a madman”. This pejorative with connotations that drip with the abject cruelty of the confinement make us take pity on the inmates. Yet because of the contrast it does not seem so bad ”videos or Stephen King”. Personally, bored as I am with revision, I would love to watch some videos or watch some Stephen King.

The poem rhymes on every other line. Which gives a structure that shows the monotony of life in prison. It gives me the opinion that life in prison is boring for the inmates, it is not altogether unpleasant. “ Every hour a step towards freedom”. I can’t help but empathise as I sit here writing my answer. How less free are they in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Simon Armitage’s structure is also well mentioning, I’m saying this because the structure of the poem is set out like a movie as the first two stanzas have portrayed the victim as the superior man in the poem. It gives us a back-story to the victim’s life and it makes the reader feel very sympathetic…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Blank Verse Poem The day Jane lost Bob to a fallen world She promised to be gratified with life Her affection reached from way far above Commissioned to give back put others first One day a rainstorm hit the city streets Jane perceived upon her high dormitory room Next after working hours her neighbors parked…

    • 122 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This poem starts off in a mellow way: “...his parents boarded him at school in town, slaving to free him from the stony fields”. The main character, Warren Pryor, is graduating and on his way to a flourishing life as a result of his parents many sacrifices. By the last stanza, the innocent tone turns into a belligerent voice: “...his axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills aching with empty strength and throttled rage.” This ultimately expresses Pryor’s point of view. Though he achieves the first steps of the American Dream and completes his parent’s wishes, he is ungratified, ironically. Instead, Pryor prefers to be at the farm he grew up in and working alongside his parents. This shows how the American Dream does not suit everyone, especially Pryor, but he continues on the path of working for the American Dream in fear of disheartening his…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem is set out in regular six-line stanzas, alternating longer and shorter iambic lines, and an abcbdb rhyme scheme. The choice of this simple and traditional form is reassuring and helps to make the content accessible. In my opinion it is suggesting that you can make a foreign city and culture familiar, and allows time to reflect on the disturbing content and imagery. Each stanza also includes a main event of the poets journey…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jimmy Santiago Baca

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    My presentation would cover the importance of Jimmy Santiago’s life, and the forms of his methods of poetry. First I will give a brief overview or biography of his life and the obstacles he had overcome to get where he is today. Second I will share some of his poetry in class and expand on the meanings of certain stanzas. In particular, the poems that I would like to share are “Count Time,” “A Daily Joy to be Alive,” and “I Am Offering This Poem.” Each line symbolizes the eloquence of his images and ties to families. I do believe that most if not all my peers can relate to him as I can. The belief that an inmate can change his life through literature and poetry inspires me to do well in my life and strive for excellence. Lastly, I would like to relay this valuable lesson to my peers. The message is that anything you would like to be is within grasping reach. It is critical to know about the life story of Jimmy Santiago and what he has become today and that is why I would like to teach the class about his inspiring ethics.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The poems structure is ten and five line stanzas. The first stanza begins with two short sentences to establish and emphasise the feeling, sadness and…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    My goal when writing this paper is to get my opinion and perspective on the poem across to my classmates so they know where I stand, but also to remain broad enough in my writing so that my readers can compare their own response to mine. Maybe in doing that, I can help a fellow classmate or two who has a block and is stuck in the middle of the assignment.…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Returning to the poem, note the wonderful quality of the verse itself. There is a common misconception that 'free' verse implies a total disregard…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry Explication

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Take a minute to imagine “Men looking like they had been/attacked repeatedly by a succession /of wild animals,” “never/ ending blasted field of corpses,” and “throats half gone, /eyes bleeding, raw meat heaped/ in piles.” These are the vividly, grotesque images Edward Mayes describes to readers in his poem, “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976.” Before even reading the poem, the title gave me a preconceived idea of what the poem might be about. “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976” describes what an extreme version of what I expected the poem to be about. The images I described above are just some of the horrifying scenes described by Mayes. This poem spoke to me about the pain and suffering patients endure while staying in a hospital (whether it be a mental hospital or a medical hospital) and the horrific images the staff see daily. Mayes uses several types of imagery and literary tropes in his poem to give readers an intense visual sensation as they read his poem. The visuals Mayes placed in my own mind while I read this poem were intensely real and stuck with me long after I studied the poem.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Poetry assignment

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Your marks for the Poetry unit of work will be derived from an assignment and from a short test.…

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    poetry reflection

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I chose the poem “The Labyrinth” by Robert P. Baird. Robert P. Baird is a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, and lives in Seattle. His poem, “The Labyrinth”, has three poetic devices; alliteration, consonance, and personification.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    English Poetry

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages

    2. What are the symbolic significances of the candy store in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "The Pennycandystore Beyond the El" (Geddes, 318)?…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "The prisoner has suffered great losses unjustly, but her soul will be rewarded in Heaven. The prisoner is a symbol of hope for all those wrongfully accused that their wrongs would be righted; as for their accusers, their fate depends on what they do with their knowledge" gave the poem the idea that she was "confined in triple walls." The prisoner held a amount of freedom and joy in her heart that made he poem so interesting. Emily Bronte wrote about the desolation that was felt. She dealt with great losses however in the end she was rewarded in heaven. Heaven kept her joyful and kept her moving even when she was unfairly jailed.…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.02 Poetry

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The word or phrase that was powerful to me was “She walks in beauty, like the night”…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Modern Poetry

    • 2815 Words
    • 12 Pages

    "Bostonia: The Alumni Magazine of Boston University." Watering the Garden State — Bostonia Summer 2000. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/summer00/garden-state/>.…

    • 2815 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics