2.1 The Twin Towers Flashcards
(5 cards)
Introduction
“The Twin Towers”- Edwin Morgan explores disturbing and shocking effects of 9/11 terrorist attack on America.
Vivid imagery and structure to show impact and full horrors of terrorism.
Throughout, we are directly addressed to sympathise for the innocent people who lost their life in tragedy
Body paragraph 1
Shows full extent of terrorist attack on World Trade Center
Repetition emphasises scope of damage: first five lines of poem start with “for the” he methodically lists key places destroyed by attack.
mention OTHER
List includes commercial targets, restaurants and even works of art were obliterated: “Windows on the World”, “Mirό three-ton tapestry”, “Calder stable mobile”. Restaurant was America’s most profitable, while two artworks mentioned were huge, stresses full scope of damage.
Stanza ends with climax when he reminds the reader: “there was suddenly no more time.” Followed by parallel structure with slight variation in next sentence: “there was suddenly no more space.” Blunt tone suggests there is no escape from attack and helps create tension as we anticipate oncoming terrorist atrocity.
He directly addresses us: “my friends” appeals directly to reader, encouraging us to reflect on these devastating events alongside with him
Body Paragraph 2
Graphically depicts savage nature of aircraft crashing into Twin Towers
Poet effectively puts us at centre of destruction. We are directly addressed as “my dears” creating an intimate tone.
Vivid language conveys brutal onslaught: he refers to the “twisted metal, scalding jet fuel” as well as confused emotions of victims who reacted with “baffled frenzy”.
Mood becomes sorrowful as he focuses on anonymous individuals who “escaped stumbling down stairwells”; also depicts those who “escaped only into air”. Bitterly ironic as poet tells us they were in fact “leaping hand in hand from highest windows”. These innocent people were leaping to their death: this is one of the most shocking images of poem vividly depicted by him.
He struggles to understand the motives of those who flew the aircraft: rather than commanding us to think of them, he says “can you think of the pilots too”. Use of “can” suggests ambiguity as we tentatively enter the minds of the terrorists. Their flight towards tower is described as “that accurate blaze of impact” suggesting it was deliberate and methodical, reminding us how extremely shocking their actions were.
Enjambment used in last six lines suggesting swiftness of events. He uses dashes to increase sense of pace of aircraft speeds towards tower. Section climaxes in the “final union of flesh, steel, glass” as explosion of aircraft rips through tower.
Body Paragraph 3
Idea of compassion developed.
Extended image of “broken comb of a geisha girl” suggests human cost of tragedy. Geisha girl’s comb suggests fragility of the “ruined shell of half a tower”. However, this is an unusual and unexpected image. He goes onto say it “stood rakish against the sky” suggesting there is defiance in remains of tower and they stand despite attack.
Mood becomes tender and melancholy as he develops image by conjuring up image of grieving geisha girl and refers to “cascades of unbound weeping”- image merges her flowing hair with tears to suggest wave of grief affecting America and rest of world.
Mood darkens at end as synecdoche used: “two thousand heads” suggests victims are now dehumanised and no longer whole. Shows tribute to these innocent victims of terrorism as it is a disturbing depiction of a defining moment in history.
Conclusion
We feel deeply sorry for those who lost their lives in attack
Imagery and sentence structure clearly shows how brutal shocking events like these really are
Direct address puts us in their shoes to sympathise with him
