Postcard from a Travel Snob by Sophie Hannah Flashcards
Context:
- Hannah creates a snooty, condescending speaker representing the superficial, pretentious upper classes.
- Prior to the 1990s, travel and holidays were only luxuries accessible to the upper classes; during the 1990s, travel became far more accessible and affordable for all, due to package and budget holidays.
- Upper classes chose to visit more remote, exotic locations for self-exploration; the speaker is pretentious about this type of holiday.
- The speaker condescends those who go on package holidays with his denigrating tone; through this, the theme of classism is blatantly evident in the poem.
Form and Structure:
- 4 quatrains, each of which follows a set iambic pentameter.
- ABAB rhyme scheme
- Most modern poetry is written in free verse; this reversion to a form associated with older poetry reflects the speaker’s desire to sound sophisticated and set themselves apart from the rest.
- Alternatively, it could be interpreted that the rigidity of the form instead reflects the narrow mind of the speaker and his lack of willingness to change his attitudes towards the lower classes.
- Enjambment creates a ranting tone while between stanzas 2 and 3, it is used to create a sense of isolation and distance.
- The subversion of the typical postcard form exemplifies its satirical nature and the speaker’s snobbish views.
What tone does the speaker convey?
DENIGRATING TONE.
What is ironic about the speaker in this poem?
While they wish to appear upper-class and sophisticated to try and assert their power and authority, they are in fact shown to be condescending, negative, and pretentious, creating a negative image inside the minds of others, allowing Sophie Hannah to criticise such mindsets of the upper classes.
KEY QUOTE: The typical postcard greeting “wish you were here” is subverted, establishing the speaker’s negative tone from the start:
“I do not wish that anyone were here.”
KEY QUOTE/TECHNIQUE: Throughout the poem, this negative word is repeated, further reinforcing the speaker’s negative tone and obsession with trying to show that they are upper class and different from the crowd:
“not”
KEY QUOTE: Condescending, judgemental attitude towards working-class tourists, intensified by plosive alliteration (“tourist types”), while old-fashioned lexis is also used to reinforce the aristocratic status of the speaker and their ironically patronising approach:
“drunken tourist types - perish the thought”
(“perish the thought” is an old-fashioned phrase used by the upper classes in the past)
KEY QUOTE: The speaker makes an ironic statement about their untouched location, since they themselves are there; this helps to perhaps build up their pretentious view about such holidays:
“This is a peaceful place, untouched by man”
KEY QUOTE: Powerful compound noun to further the speaker’s highly condescending and disrespectful tone towards typical holidays, exemplified by “hell”:
“seaside-town-consumer-hell”
KEY QUOTE: The speaker makes a highly pretentious comment about their holiday destination; perhaps they are trying to convince only themselves:
“I’m sleeping in a local farmer’s van - it’s great.”
KEY QUOTE: The speaker makes a highly hyperbolic statement about the remoteness of their location; the isolation is exemplified by the enjambment between the stanzas, while this only contributes to their superficial, pretentious tone:
“There’s not a guest house or hotel ///// within a hundred miles.”
KEY QUOTE: The speaker uses another disrespectful compound noun, portraying their ranting tone, furthering how much they look down upon package tourists, exemplified by the fact that this is a parenthetical statement; it is ironic that they themselves seem to be “small-minded” rather than the tourists they describe:
“I’m not your sun-and-sangria-two-weeks-small-minded-package-philistine-abroad”
- This only contributes to their presentation as highly judgemental and snooty, developing the negative image of the speaker.
KEY QUOTE: The poem ends on a note of established snobbishness, as the speaker continues to try to set himself apart from the other, to seem superior and above the lower classes; his obsession with self-image and social standing is evident here, allowing Hannah to criticise such aristocratic views towards society:
“I’m not a British tourist in the sea; I am an anthropologist in trunks.”
- Ironic that the speaker claims to be an “anthropologist” while choosing to stay in a remote place, void of any humans.
Summary:
The satirical nature of this poem allows Sophie Hannah to criticise the views of the upper class society; the speaker of this poem is presented as highly pretentious, superficial, and elitist, looking down upon tourists that can only afford package holidays, while trying to appear superior and set themselves apart, with their “great” holiday in a local farmer’s van in their remote destination. It is ironic that the speaker themselves are shown to be “small-minded” and stubborn in their mindset in comparison to the tourists they look down on so much.
