english advanced poetry help (1 Viewer)

[k150764]

Title: War of the Roses By Roger Mcgough

Friday came the news.
Her G.P rang and told her.
The telephone buckled.
in her hand. Safely distanced,
he offered to come around.
"Why bother," she said, 'Bastard'.

She had guessed anyway. The body
had been telling her for months.
Sending haemorrhages, eerie messages
of bruises. Outward signs
of inner turmoil. You can't sweep
blood under the carpet.

Thirty, single, living with and for
a four-year-old daughter. Smokes,
drinks whisky, works in television.
Wakes around four each morning
fearful and crying. Listen to
the rioting in her veins.

her blood is at war with itself.
With each campaign more pain,
a War of the Roses over again.
She is a battlefield. In her,
Red and White armies compete.
She is a pair of crossed swords
on the medical map of her street.
















Can ne 1 help me with this poem? im kinda stuck

i need to know theme and techniques of this poem............thanks........

 

[bored of sc]

War of the Roses

By Roger Mcgough

Friday came the news.
Her G.P rang and told her.
The telephone buckled.
in her hand. Safely distanced,
he offered to come around.
"Why bother," she said, 'Bastard'.

She had guessed anyway. The body
had been telling her for months.
Sending haemorrhages, eerie messages
of bruises. Outward signs
of inner turmoil. You can't sweep
blood under the carpet.

Thirty, single, living with and for
a four-year-old daughter. Smokes,
drinks whisky, works in television.
Wakes around four each morning
fearful and crying. Listen to
the rioting in her veins.

her blood is at war with itself.
With each campaign more pain,
a War of the Roses over again.
She is a battlefield. In her,
Red and White armies compete.
She is a pair of crossed swords
on the medical map of her street.

Wow, interesting piece of poetry. When analysing poetry I like to use the acronym: SPECS and SLIMS.
Subject: what it's about?
Purpose: why'd they write it? themes?
Emotions: what feelings did the persona/composer and you, the responder, experience?
Craftsmanship (technique):
- Sound devices (e.g. alliteration, rhyme)
- Language devices (e.g. hyperbole, first person narration)
- Imagery (e.g. simile, metaphor)
- Movement (e.g. rhythm, rhyme, punctuation)
- Structure (e.g. stanzas, rhyme pattern, type of poem)
Summary

Subject: lady has SEVERE physical health problems (discover she's been diagonsed with a fatal illness of some description) and all other parts of her life (family, psychological dimension, emotions etc) were/are suffering as a result.

Themes: health as a holistic concept (e.g. physical, mental, social, spiritual etc), the effect of substances (e.g. smoking, drinking alcohol) on physical health.

 

[Empyrean444]

I think that the title presents an interesting case. "the War of the Roses" is a name for the English civil war. The "red and white armies" is a reference to the Eng civil war too, because one side's emblem was a white rose, the other's a red rose. In the context of the poem, it can possibly represent red/white blood cells.

Some observations:
it is free verse (structured in 6 line stanzas [though the last is 7 lines]
The last stanza is rich in metaphorical language. This serves to enhance the description of the disease, empower the disease and highlights the fact that coping with the disease is a "battle" for the woman, it is an arduous task which tearing her apart - so much so that her body is at war with itself. (note: battles are always costly for Both sides [especaially in the English civil war]. This is here implied about her struggle, as the battle comparison indicates the absolute devastation to come).
This all serves to accentuate the herculean difficulty of the disease, the pain it causes and the ruination it is causing her.

It is very much a "social issues" poem: it deals with (as already pointed out by the former poster):
the effects of alchohol (not necessarily Abuse though)
Effects of smoking
plight of single mothers (one thing goes wrong and the world of their child will collapse: who will take care of this woman's child if she dies?)

Just some ideas for you to toy with.