Quotes For Glasgow Sonnet (i)

Question 1

A mean

Answer 1

“A mean wind wanders through the backcourt trash” - “mean” - personification of the wind, cruel, threatening violence.

Question 2

Hackles on

Answer 2

“Hackles on puddles rise old mattresses puff briefly and subside” - “briefly” implies little strength or effort, “Hackles” - effective word choice as it describes the ripples that the wind makes on the surface of the puddles suggesting an animal raising their hair when a threat is near.

Question 3

Four storeys

Answer 3

“Four storeys have no windows left to smash” - Societal neglect, ongoing threat, destroyed.

Question 4

mother and

Answer 4

“mother and daughter the last mistresses” - everyday experience of poverty, “mistresses” would normally suggest the owner of a grand house or castle.

Question 5

Around them

Answer 5

“Around them the cracks deepen, the rats crawl” - structure of ceiling and walls breaking down, metaphor of a society falling apart that allows people to live like this, abandoned, diseased.

Question 6

The kettle

Answer 6

“The kettle whimpers on a crazy hob” - personification, “kettle whimpers” describes the weak noise of a simmering kettle but also the man’s sad cries of despair, flat needs repair, poverty.

Question 7

The man

Answer 7

“The man lies late since he has lost his job” - Depression, “lies late” as he no longer has employment, no motivation to even move.

Question 8

Letting his

Answer 8

“letting his coughs fall thinly into an air too poor to rob” - ill, weakness, even the air around him is diseased and unsanitary, terrible condition, societal neglect, everyday experience of poverty.