The City Planners Flashcards
What is the main tension and theme of the poem? (The City Planners)
Tension: chaos vs organisation
A poem about the insanity of trying to make things completely perfect and erase imperfections
Paragraph 1? (The City Planners)
Atwood initially demonstrates an image of the suburbs as highly ordered, to the extent that it feels stifling
Quotes for paragraph 1? (The City Planners)
‘what offends us is the sanities’
‘the planted sanitary trees’ and ‘the discouraged grass’
‘no shouting here, or shatter of glass’
‘what offends us is the sanities’
offends –> immediately establishes the speaker’s distaste
sanities –> should be a good thing so ‘offends’ says there is something strange about sanity
‘the planted sanitary trees’ and ‘the discouraged grass’
images of nature being controlled
‘sanitary’ contrasts natural ‘tree’ as if something uncontrolled is dirty
‘discouraged’ personifies the grass and suggests it can’t grow properly
‘no shouting here, or shatter of glass’
the absence of these, perversely, draws our attention to them suggesting that, subconsciously, such feelings may still lurk under the surface
Paragraph 2? (The City Planners)
Atwood then provides images of disorder and ruin, highlighting the instability that she sees in the suburbia
Quotes for paragraph 2? (The City Planners)
‘the driveways neatly sidestep hysteria’
‘a splash of paint on brick surprising as a bruise’
‘future cracks’ ‘that right now nobody notices’
‘the driveways neatly sidestep hysteria’
enjambment emphasises the threat to stability further portraying the idea that hysteria is so close
‘a splash of paint surprising as a bruise’
bruise –> painful connotations that suggest imperfection is a painful injury
‘future cracks’ ‘that right now nobody notices’
future –> downfall is inevitable
‘nobody notices’ –> people are oblivious to the danger of ‘perfection’
Paragraph 3? (The City Planners)
Additionally, Atwood presents the city planners themselves as sinister and controlling
Quotes for paragraph 3? (The City Planners)
‘insane faces of political conspirators’
‘territories, concealed from each other’
‘guessing directions, they sketch’
‘insane faces of political conspirators’
‘insane’ connotes chaos and craziness which contrasts the ‘perfect’ suburbs
‘territories, concealed from each other’
preventing outer knowledge –> dystopian, sinister sanitation
‘guessing directions, they sketch’
guessing –> chaotic, unplanned which contrasts the ‘perfection of the town’
Conclusion (The City Planners)
Ends with a mood of fear and also a realisation that even the seemingly perfect things conceal dark secrets and insanity
