STA Flashcards
In the Snack Bar Summary
Morgan describes an old man struggling to find his way to the toilet in a café in Glasgow.
Good Friday Summary
. The poet describes the reflections of a drunken man on a bus in Glasgow
Trio Summary
Morgan describes 3 friends walking down Buchanan Street at Christmas time
Winter Summary
Set in Bingham’s Pond in Glasgow. It looks at the winters affect on the pond and creatures in its vicinity
Slate Summary
Set on the Isle of Lewis, as it looks at the creation of the island
Hyena Summary
Poem deals with the animal, which is traditionally seen as a hateful scavenger, but Morgan sees value in the animal and forces us to see it differently.
In the Snackbar Themes
Resilience, Isolation, People, Disability
The dismal hump looming over him
Transferred Epithet - Suggests man is miserable due to his hunchback
like a monstrous animal caught in a tent in some story
Simile - Suggests he is frightening. Also implies he has no escape from his appearance or disability
Long blind, hunchback-born, half-paralysed
List - Long line lists his disabilities. Climactic - 2,3,4 syllables
A few yards of floor are like a landscape to be negotiated
Simile - Shows man’s difficulty doing everyday things
I concentrate my life to his: crunch of split sugar, slidy puddles from the night’s umbrellas, table edges, people’s feet
List (Intoroduced by colon) - Poet puts himself in old man’s shoes. List of things we take for granted but are a threat to the old man
He shambles uncouth into the clinical gleam
Contrast - Compares dirty old man to cleanness of toilet. Suggests he taints his surroundings
that one persisting patience of the undefeated which is the nature of mankind when all is said
Message of the poem - Mans instinct is to survive and resilience of mankind is shown through the old man. Suggests the poet admires the old man.
Dear Christ, to be born for this!
Exclamation of despair - poet wonders if there is any point in such an existence
Good Friday Themes
Religion, People
‘D’s this go’ - he flops down beside me
Dropped letters indicate slurred speech. Flops suggests clumsiness, furthering drunken connotations
‘I’ve had a wee drink’
Euphamistic Language - Man clearly drunk. Playing down of consumption suggests guilt. Lies to author because he feels inferior
‘I’m no boring you, eh?’
Question highlights man’s insecurities/sense of inferiority
‘I don’t know what today’s in aid aid of’
Shows man’s lack of knowledge. Message of the poem - Loss of holiday’s original meaning
‘me – Aye well’
Use of hyphons indicates writer has just spoken
‘has nae education, he jist canny - jist hasny got it, know what I mean, he’s jist bliddy ignorant’
Internalisation of societies views. Man believes himself to be worth less because of his social class
for his Easter eggs
Commercialisation of religious holidays. Again highlights the loss of their original meaning
on very
nearly
steady
legs
Structure - reflects way stairs look, slows down pace of the poem which gives more emphasis to the man’s drunkedness
Trio Themes
Celebration, Equality, Religion, Freindship
Coming up Buchanan street, quickly, on a sharp evening a young man and two girls, under the Christmas lights-
Irregular structure places location at the start so the reader can identify with the place. Contrast between movement and temperature. Three people connect with title and religious significance. Christmas lights set the mood of celebration
a new guitar…a very young baby…a chihuahua
Number continued with three gifts, connecting the scene with the journey of the Magi. Gifts are symbolic - joy of music, joy of life in a newborn, diversity of society (togetherness)
laughing, their breath rises in a cloud of happiness
Celebratory mood extended with laughter. Metaphor compares there noise to joyful singing, protected and shared
Orphean sprig! Melting baby! Warm Chihuahua!
Single line summarises the three gifts, connecting with past and present. Connection with Greek mythology. Each desciption offers the idea of love and care
The vale of tears is powerless before you
Biblical reference to life’s struggles and challenges, while powerless implies a lack of control, showing the strength of celebration and happiness
Whether Christ is born, or is not born,you
Put paid to fate, it abdicates
Under the Christmas lights
Message of the poem, disregards the religious significance of the time of year, focusing more on the impact of human joy and sharing, which is a powerful idea. Again, Christmas lights take on a protective role in nurturing these feelings
Monsters of the year go blank, are scattered back, can’t bear this march of three.
Metaphor of monsters suggests frightening and scary things in life disappear (blank) and are overpowered by the large military image of strength (march of three)
…laughter ringing them round like a guard
military imagery continued in the internal thoughts of the speaker, suggesting they provide security and protection against sadness and evil in life
Hyena Themes
Perception, Isolation, Persistence
I am panting, it is midday, I found no water-hole
List - breakup of items on list make it seem as if hyena is panting. Words all mean something, no extra words highlights efficiency of hyena
you must believe I am prepared to spring
Directly addresses reader. Sense of danger developed. Hyena demands respect
I have a rough coat like Africa
Suggests arrogance. Implies hyena is the animal embodiment of Africa. Hyena shares many traits with Africa
I am a good match for a dead lion
Uneven match. Highlights true nature of hyena. Shows hyena has no sense of honour
I am not laughing
Fullstop gives emphasis to statement. Shows hyena isn’t joking around. He doesn’t find misperceptions amusing
grip carrion
‘grip’ suggests power, force, ciolence, strength
‘carrion’ - Unpleasant, suggests rotting and death
I am waiting
Shows hyenas patience and persistence. Ominous warning
My place is to pick you clean and leave your bones to the wind
Message of poem. Hyenas role in life is to outlive you and then devour you
Winter Themes
Passage of time, Death, Natural world changing
The year goes
The year is over. Idea of leaving and changing
Many a summer dies
Shows nature affected by change in time. Connects with death
Heavy light
Oxymoron. Implies unnaturalness. Lack of warmth. Weakness
‘bears gulls’, ‘bears boys’
Repititions shows resilience of winter. Strength
white
Repitition of no colour implies lack of life/death
cut by evening cries
Sharp, threatening, painful. Aliteration of harsh ‘c’ sound
fall, decay and break
List of stages of death. Process over time
drives monstrous down the dual carraigeway
Personification creates an image of the fog being forecful and ferocious. Indicates driving eratically, dangerously
grey dead pane
Dull, bleak, lifeless. Ambiguous phrasing - pane meaning window but also emphasising damaged scene
Slate Themes
Evolution/Change over time
The power of nature
Endurance
There is no beginning
Short, blunt statement in present tense. Implies there is no end. Process of creating a powerful land and nation is ongoing
Lewis laid down
Idea of preciousness and care. Contrasts with power of its creation
thunder and volcanic fires
Powerful and violent. The shaping of Lewis has required great force/endurance
Drumlins blue as bruises
Simile implies great force. Shows Scotland has taken a beating
rough back
Scotland embodied to create empathy. Implies Scotland is a hardened character
streak, surely strike, seldom stroke
Aliteration. Shows Scotlands rough treatment by nature
shouldered off
Strength - rejection of change
empty hunger
Unfulfilled desire for Scotland to acheive its full potential
sorry glory of a rainbow
Oxymoron emphasises disappointment of the referendum. Rainbow symbolises hope
heels kicked
Impatience, anger
