🎭 Name the Technique
A comparison using “like” or “as.”
Simile
“The classroom was a zoo.” What technique is this?
Metaphor
Who is the speaker/persona in the poem?
Bruce Ismay
Who is the central figure in the poem?
Lawrence Oates
Which man survived the Titanic?
Bruce Ismay
Giving human characteristics to something non-human.
Personification
A sentence continues from one line of poetry into the next without a full stop or pause. What is this called?
Enjambment
What major historical event has happened before the poem begins?
The sinking of the Titanic
Why does Oates decide to leave the tent?
He knows he is slowing the others down and hopes his sacrifice will give them a better chance of survival.
Which man walked out into the Antarctic blizzard?
Lawrence Oates
Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words.
Alliteration
“Bang! Crash! Boom!” What technique is being used?
Onomatopoeia
Give one emotion Ismay experiences in the poem.
Guilt, shame, loneliness, fear, regret, bitterness, etc.
What does Oates’s decision to leave the tent show about his character?
He is selfless, brave, loyal, courageous.
Why was Bruce Ismay criticised after the Titanic disaster?
He survived by entering a lifeboat while many others died, which led to accusations of cowardice.
When an object, place or image represents a deeper idea or meaning.
Symbolism
When a poet deliberately repeats a word, phrase or line, what technique is being used?
Repetition
After the Titanic disaster, where does Ismay go to live in the poem?
Connemara / a remote, isolated place in Connemara
Mahon describes Oates’s act as both “ridiculous” and “sublime.” What do these two words suggest?
“Ridiculous” suggests the act may seem pointless or absurd; “sublime” suggests it is noble, admirable or heroic.
What happened to Oates after he left the tent?
He walked out into the blizzard and died.
A question asked for effect rather than because the speaker expects an answer.
Rhetorical question
A deliberate pause or break in the middle of a line of poetry. What is this called?
Caesura
TECHNIQUE: Mahon writes the poem in the first person, as though Bruce Ismay himself is speaking. What is this type of poem called?
Dramatic monologue
TECHNIQUE: Antarctica repeatedly returns to the same lines and ideas. What effect does this repetition have?
It emphasises Oates’s final decision and gives the poem a circular, memorable structure. // Villanelle
What famous final words are associated with Lawrence Oates, and what senior position did Bruce Ismay hold in the White Star Line?
Oates: “I am just going outside and may be some time.”
Ismay: Chairman and Managing Director of the White Star Line.