Organization
Time & Place
Connections/Imagery
Word Choice
n/a
100
End, Middle, Beginning
What is the format of the poem?
100
When is the poem set?
The time of WWI.
100
Compared with other war poems you have read, what is a common theme amongst all of them?
They are more emotional; almost never focus on the war as a whole, but individual soldiers and lives, destroyed. War is portrayed as a horror.
100
What does "drowning" mean in this case?
Used as one of the adjectives to describe a dying soldier; even though he is not drowning in water.
200
Who is the "me" in the poem? Who is the "you"?
- the perspective of Duffy - the boy who dies in war
200
Where is this poem set in the part: "There's coffee in the square..." to the end?
England
200
Which parties does this poem address?
Soldiers, as well as their families left behind: Not only boys who are turned into soldiers, but families; younger siblings, mothers, who are affected by this.
200
What is shrapnel?
fragments of a bomb/shell/metal, etc. that comes flying off from an explosion.
300
At what point in the poem does Duffy slide from death back to life?
If poetry could tell it backwards, true, begin that moment shrapnel scythed you to the stinking mud... but you get up, amazed, watch bled bad blood run upwards from the slime into its wounds..
300
From which side of the war is this poem coming from?
England; "Lines of British boys".
300
What is this imagery portraying? see lines and lines of British boys rewind back to their trenches, kiss the photographs from home - mothers, sweethearts, sisters, younger brothers not entering the story now to die and die and die.
Kissing the photographs from home: saying their farewells, because they most likely will not come back.
300
immerse, submerge. cast something into something with force, deliberation. Dive into
plunge
400
What effect does telling the story backwards in the poem create?
Open-ended. - paints an image in your head; as if you are watching a rewind on television: creates a sense of hopelessness while reading the poem, as it leaves you with the image of the person, alive and well, yet you know his fate.
400
Where was Carol Ann Duffy from?
Scotland.
400
How does this poem/war poems in general differ from the messages of propaganda at the time?
Instead of portraying war in its supposed glory and honor, war poems describe battle and death as it is; a horrible experience and injustice to the many lives it claimed. Also, instead of praising the political leaders, it in fact belittles and criticizes them.
400
Define "scythed."
a scythe is a curved knife. In this case, it means cut, or maul; "scythed you to the stinking mud."
500
Why do you think Duffy tells the story of war in the poem backwards; starting with the death of the soldier, rewinding to his life prior to war?
Open-ended. - to create an effect of solemnity and sorrow in the reader; leaving us to imagine the potential life this person could have lived before it was so harshly claimed from battle.
500
Where does the poem start and where does it end?
Battlefield > Trenches > Town Square (Death > Hopelessness > Life)
500
What is the significance of this image in the poem? You lean against a wall, your several million lives still possible and crammed with love, work, children, talent, English beer, good food.
This is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful parts of the poem, because it is showing the boy's life prior to war. He had friends, there was good food, and so much potential in their life ("your several million lives still possible").
500
Meaning of "Pro patria mori.'
"It is sweet and proper to die for the fatherland" It is honorable to die for your country; basically saying that war is honorable.
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