A Consumer's Report - Peter Porter Flashcards
What does commodification mean?
The act or fact of turning
something into an item that can
be bought and sold.
When was ‘A Consumers Report’ written?
The 1970s.
What was Porter’s previous job?
Sales.
What is the product that Porter tested?
Life.
What might the phrase ‘competitive product’ be refering to?
Death that will come later. The speaker is not satisfied with ‘Life’ and is waiting till death.
What does the phrase ‘until I get’ imply?
That we can choose to have life or death when there is no choice. We are given life whether we want it and we have no say in the type of life that we are born into.
What does Porter mean by ‘Instructions for life’?
The rules and expectations that people around you and society give you to supposedly ‘help’ you in life but sometimes they contradict each other as everyone has different ideas of how to be successful in life.
How many stanzas are there?
Three.
What is the ryhme scheme and why?
Free verse. This shows that Life is not something that is predictable and sounds nice but you can’t ever know what’s going to happen and the chaos of life is normal.
Why is the first stanza only three lines?
It serves as an introduction to the poem and introduces the speaker and why he has written the poem.
Why does the author refer to life as a ‘gift’?
The author believes that life is something to be cherished and used to the fullest and not commodified like everything else in the world.
