Cockroaches Seen poetry

Question 1

What is the effect of helter-skelter and scuttle?

Answer 1

The consonance suggests rapid movement in all directions: chaos
conveys the fear from the cockroaches

Question 2

What does the sk sound evoke?

Answer 2

The sense of rapid movement along the ground.

Question 3

Comment on the effect of shelter/hideout

Answer 3

Seeking safety so they are not killed/ need to find sanctuary from them

Question 4

What sound devices are used?

Answer 4

Assonance (approaches/cockroaches)
Alliteration
(helpless/hopeless)

Question 5

What is the tone in Stanza 1-4?

Answer 5

1-2 assertiveness
(change at but)
3. accusatory
4. reflective

Question 6

Comment on the use of the authoritarian phrases.

Answer 6

they are aggressors; the cockroaches just want to get away. active will to prevent them from reaching safety.

Question 7

How do “helpless” “shy” and “hopeless” position the reader to feel?

Answer 7

Sympathy – afraid, cannot survive

Question 8

What extended metaphor/metaphor is used?

Answer 8

Cockroaches to victims (hints at it by eliciting empathy in the reader)
darkness metaphor for otherness. connotations of lovers of darkness: criminals

Question 9

What was the writer’s intention?

Answer 9

to make the reader question authoritarian figures/ reflect

Question 10

What is the effect of the but and or on seperate lines?

Answer 10

emphasis of accusation