Monologue Flashcards
Summary
This poem is about the harsh condition of the workings. At the beginning of the poem . The poet was saying that he hated his job but however, at the end he pushed his thoughts away and he thinks that he is lucky for having this job
Structure
The indent between the first and subsequent line in each stanza is layout feature of the poem drawing attention to the stanzaic. The poem appearance draws attention. To the way it has been constructed linking to the idea of the factory
Deeper interpretation
You should enjoy the moment and what you already have there is always a negative side and positive side of something
“I like working near the door”
The doors are the poem central symbol
—> they are associated with both being trapped or freedom. At this point the door traps the speaker int eh factory when they open to allow the delivery of steel the condition worsen
—> a route freedom or the means to his entrapment? On one hand he is near enough to the door that if the worst happens he can escape on the other hand the door provide a sense of security to keep him safe
“I like” more refrain the more the reader doubts that the speaker telling the whole truth
“Near” synmoyn of close by the speaker like things at work to be easy and convenient. It soon becomes apparent however that condition in the factory aren’t easy at all
“Here the cold creeps in under the big doors and in the summer hot dust swirls ,clogging the nose.”
Contrasting words (hot/cold) suggest that condition in the factory are always at extreme never comfortable, “clogging” suggests working there is stifling
Informed by his own work experience , Tulare easily depicts the difficult condition in the steelwork- int he winter cold creeps in: hot summer sites. The juxtaposition of two extreme leads us to believe there is never a comfortable time
—> “summer..swirls” the thick, suffocating atmosphere is brought to life through tactile images in this line
—> sibilance when describe the summer conditions emphasises their unpleasantness
Each time they open to admit a lorry load of steel infernal condition actually worsen- but this a price he is willling to pay be close enough freedom he hankers for
“Before the axe falls”
As the stanza progresses the language he uses becomes more abstract . We see how his job is linked to his very existence
“Before the axe falls” alludes to another idiom “to get chop” both can be used in situations when someone is losing their job. The word connote pain and reinforce the sense that losing one job is asking to “dying”
The repetition of people emphasises the increasing pressure the speaker feels as he imagine more and more people looking for jobs”
Poet
His father was a Maori and his love for oration can be seen in this formof this form of poem a dramatic monologue > in the voice of a Scottish steel worker ,
—> inspired by his time working in the otahuhu railway workshop
