MacCaig Poems + Critical Essay 'The Metamorphosis' Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the general introduction starter?

A

Franz Kafka’s captivating timeless classic ‘the metamorphosis’, written in 1912, explores existentialism through surreal transformation of the protagonist Gregor Samsa, into an insect. Such a change enables him to embody the vermin he is treated as those around hi, and strips him out of his humanity in the eyes of his family.

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2
Q

Anatations/quotation to Aunt Julia first two lines?

A

QUOTE:
‘Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.’

ANATATIONS:
‘Aunt Julia’ - as the first words in the poem it suggests the importance she was to him/the immediacy of the memories.

‘Spoke Gaelic’ - suggests she unique/different, it is also the orginal dialect of Western Scotland.

‘Very’ - repetition suggests and extroverted character, strength and personality.

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3
Q

What is the main theme of Assisi?

A

Hypocrisy of the church

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4
Q

What is the main theme of Aunt Julia?

A

Isolation of both MacCaig and Aunt Julia

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5
Q

What is the main theme of Visiting hour?

A

Fear of not being able to control his emotions.

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6
Q

What is the main theme of Basking shark?

A

Reflection on one’s self, on how people judge to fast.

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7
Q

What is the main theme of Hotel Room, 12th Floor?

A

Questioning whether we can overcome our savagery animalistic instincts

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8
Q

What is the main theme of Brooklyn Cop?

A

Violence, that no matter where or whom it is always there.

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9
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘She wore men’s boots when she wore any’

A

‘Men’s boots’ - Strong woman, tough and practical.

‘When she wore any.’ - went barefoot mostly, reflection on the lifestyle she lived.

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10
Q

Aunt Julia:

What is the annatations for ‘Paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel’?

A

Long lune reflects the spinning process, the enjanmbent creates a sense of movement and flow.

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11
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘Lain at night in absolute darkeness’

A

How even though they were in the middle of nowhere he still felt safe and secure.

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12
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘She was’ anatations?

A

Parallel structure and repetition highlight her death.

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13
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘Keeper of three penny bits in a teapot’ amataions?

A

She was an odd and quirky person’s but that what he remebers the most and loves about her.

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14
Q

Aunt Julia:

What does the repition of the first two lines of the peom in the last stanza suggest?

A

Emphasises her importance and the vividness of his memories for her.

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15
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘By the time’ annatations?

A

Changes to a more darker tone, sense of regret and of a missed opportunity.

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16
Q

Aunt Julia:

‘So many questions unanswered anatations?

A

‘So many questions’ - highlights just how much he really wanted to be able to communicate with her.

‘Unanswered’ - enjanmbent/word by itself suggests the lingering sense of frustration and guilt.

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17
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Helicopter Skirting like a damaged insect’

A

Helicopter Skirting - simile, appears small against the buildings it being a chaotic flight

Damaged insect - symbol of broken society , inscets are alien/inhuman

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18
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Empire State building that jumbo sized dentist drill’

A

Symbol of progress and mockery of how everything is extra sized in America, buildings size and shape is pointless

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19
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Midnight’

A

Evil/time shift darkness changes everything

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20
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Shot at by a million lit windows’

A

Americans obsession with guns and how people are fearful of them, like the wild west

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21
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Not so easily defeated’

A

Trying to prevent it seems futile

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22
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Wildest of warhoops’

A

Repetition of W mimics the sounds of the street, and emphasises the chaos of what’s happening

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23
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘Broken bones and Harsh screaming’

A

Reduced to their injuries substained and not people.

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24
Q

Hotel Room, 12th Floor:

‘No stockade can keep the Midnight out’

A

No matter how sophisticated and evolved we become we always go back to our prmitave ways

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25
Q

Visiting Hour:

‘Combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along’

A

Combs my nostrils- Overselling smell of antiseptic, everything starts to become overwhelming to him.

Bobbing along - shows lighthearted humor, constants the serious tone

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26
Q

Visiting Hour:

Dd

A

Ddd

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27
Q

Visiting Hour:

‘Vanishes heavenward’

A

Emphasises just how quickly something can change in front of you

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28
Q

Visiting Hour:

‘So much pain, so much deaths’

A

Emphasises the suffering they have to deal with

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29
Q

Visiting Hour:

‘Whitered stalk trembled on its stalk’

A

Suggests weakness and death, fragility.

30
Q

Visiting Hour:

‘Glass fang is fixed’

A

Alliteration of the ‘f’ reinforces the harshness of the hospital equipment.

Metaphor for the IV drip predatory - sounding as those the speakers first presumption is thats she being attacked.

31
Q

What are the quotes for ‘the metamorphosis’ ?

A

‘He found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin’

‘With a hostile expression, his father clenched his fist, as if to drive Gregor back to his room.’

‘It was his secret plan that she would be sent to the conservatory, regardless of the great expense’

‘Throw himself down on the sofa, hot with shame and grief’

‘During the first 2 weeks, his parents could not bring themselves to come in to him’

‘One apple literally forced its way into Gregors back’

‘Overworked and exhausted family had time to worry about Gregor any more than was absolutely nessesary’

‘Was he an animal that music could move him so?’

‘From his nostrils streamed his last weak breath’

32
Q

Visiting hour:

‘Her and me’

A

Pronouns separated the representatives of the characters.

33
Q

Visiting hour:

‘White cave’

A

Metaphor for her room - isolated/cold/lonely

Cave is usually dark and the visitor is expected to be positive however here the roles are reversed

34
Q

Visiting hour:

‘In the round swimming waves of a bell’

A

Synasthesia: sound of bell evokes feeling of swimming - sense of drowning and strong emotions

Overwhelmed/over-powered by the sound, just as waves can cause distress

35
Q

Visiting hour:

‘Growing fainter, not smaller’

A

They’re still a significant part of each others lives even though she’s getting closer to death.

36
Q

Visiting hour:

‘Books that will not be read and fruitless fruits’

A

Paradox: emphaisied hoe useless he feels

The oxymoron of the last line suggests the they are lifeless like her. Some bleak words for the end.

37
Q

Brooklyn Cop:

‘Built like a Gorilla’

A

Simile: the cop is huge in size and intimidating, he is perhaps aggressive or animalistic in nature.’

38
Q

Brooklyn Cop:

‘Thick-fleshed’

A

Play on “thick-skinnned” but emphasises the cops tough exterior

39
Q

Brooklyn Cop:

‘Sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence’

A

Metaphor: the sidewalk is compared to a thin tissue which creates a divide between civilised society and violence, could be torn at any moment.

40
Q

Brooklyn Cop:

‘He hoped it, he truly hoped it’

A

Repetition is used to emphasise how much he loves his wife and is fearful he might not see her again.

41
Q

Brooklyn Cop:

‘He is a gorilla’

A

Simile has changed to a changed to a metaphor. This strengthens the image and shows that when he is at work he becomes Uncivilised.

42
Q

Brookyln Cop:

‘Should the tissue tear’

A

Alliteration emphasises how thin and fragile the line is between normality and chaos.

43
Q

Brookyln Cop:

‘Phoebe’s whamburger’

A

Onomatopoeia of ‘wham’ - stands put sounds forceful and violent

44
Q

Brookyln Cop:

‘Nightstick’

A

Word choice has connotations of evil and violence. He is always prepared to use force to gain order.

45
Q

Brookyln Cop:

‘He might, this time, never get back to?’

A

Parenthesis stresses the uncertainty and the fact that each shift could be his last.

46
Q

Brookyln Cop:

‘Who have to be his victims?’

A

The enjanmbent draws attention to the ‘have to be’ which convays a sense of hopelessness, they are inevitable.

‘Victims’ is ambiguous, normally a cop would protect victims of crime however he has victims of his own, makes us question.

The rhetorical question reflects the poets turmoil, torn between feeling sympathy and blaming him.

47
Q

Basking shark:

‘Stub an oar on a rock’

A

‘Stub’ is shocking and abrupt.

‘On a rock’ metaphor for the shark us bulky/soild/imposing, it lacks feeling.

48
Q

Basking shark:

‘To have it rise’

A

The shark is in charge of this situation, not him.

49
Q

Basking shark:

‘Happened once (too often) to me’

A

Parenthesis suggests it caused alarm, tone is humourous.

50
Q

Basking shark:

‘But not too often’

A

Contrast with stanza 1, both frightening and enriching

51
Q

Basking shark:

‘Sea tin-tacked with rain’

A

Alliteration of the t’s mimics the rain sound.

52
Q

Basking shark:

‘That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain’’

A

Contrast looks frightening but in reality is harmless. MacCaig mocks the sharks intelligence.

53
Q

Basking shark:

‘Displaced more than water’

A

Literal displacement - narrator also forced to consider humanity’s place in evolution.

54
Q

Basking shark:

‘Shoggled me centuries back’

A

Playful, startled by accident.

Enjambment: pause highlights distant past of the evolutionary process.

55
Q

Basking shark:

‘Decadent townee’

A

Aware of living frivolous luxurious life.

56
Q

Basking shark:

‘Swish up the dirt’

A

His judgement has been clouded.

57
Q

Basking shark:

‘Emegring from the slime of everything’

A

Emoahsise on the simplicity of primitive beginnings.

58
Q

Basking shark:

‘So who’s the monster?’

A

Refers to stanza 1, insulting at the start, now is less confident in humans superiority.

Forces reader to their place.

59
Q

Basking shark:

‘Tall fin slid away and then the tail’

A

Contact is more elegant than its appearance.

Belief encouter but remains with him forever.

60
Q

Assisi:

‘The dwarf’

A

Highlights the derogatory - irrelevant and dehumanises.

61
Q

Assisi:

‘Slumped like a half-filled sack’

A

Frail and defeated, suggests he’s incomplete

62
Q

Assisi:

‘Tiny twisted legs’

A

The alliteration has a harsh emphasise of his pitiful condition, insignificance and contorted/video.

63
Q

Assisi:

‘Three tiers of churches built’

A

Contacts with the beggar, grand v pitiful

64
Q

Assisi:

‘Honour of St. Francis’

A

Building for humble Saint is ironic seeing as he’s all about giving and they don’t do that.

65
Q

Assisi:

‘Frescoes tell stories’

A

Frescoes for actual illiterate people in the past, and now priests arrogantly calling tourists illiterate.

66
Q

Assisi:

‘Clucking contentedly’

A

Alliteration mimics chicken - thinks they’re stupid, following the priests mindlessly

67
Q

Assisi:

‘Passed the ruined temple outside’

A

Metaphor for the beggar as he is destroyed/beyond repair.

68
Q

Assisi:

‘Eyes wept pus’

A

Repetition reiterates his humanity.

69
Q

Assisi:

‘Said Grazie in’

A

Shows some gratitude despite being ignored, contast with stanza 1

70
Q

Assisi:

‘Birds when it spoke to St. Francis’

A

Reiterates that St. Francis message has been ignored.

Final words - lasting message to remind us of moral behaviour.

71
Q

How do you structure the 10 mark question?

A

Step 1:
Commonality - you need to mention in your words what, specifically, the commainilty is. (2 marks)

Step 2:
Make specific refrence to the poem in front of you (quote) and link to the question. Mention techniques and their effect. (2 marks)

Step 3:
Ignore the peom in front of you! Make refrence to another poem and link to the question - again, mention techniques snd their effect. (6 marks)