Anthology Poetry – lesson fourteen The opening makes it sound like a story, but also suggests loss. There once was a country… I left it as a child but my memory of it is sunlight-clear for it seems I never saw it in that November which, I am told, comes to the mildest city. The worst news I receive of it cannot break my original view, the bright, filled paperweight. It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants, but I am branded by an impression of sunlight. This suggests that the memory is clear and happy This hints at another voice telling her about her past. “November” represents difficult times, when things are cold, dark and gloomy. Metaphor suggests that the narrator’s memories are bright and positive, but also solid and fixed. Suggestion that the country has been invaded and that the speaker’s positive view of it isn’t accurate. The negative “branded” is juxtaposed with the positive “impression of sunlight”. “branded” also suggests a permanence to her view – it can’t change. Level 1-2– identify skills required in the exam Level 3-4 – understand what the examiner will be looking for Level 5-6 – Interpret a poem from the anthology Level 7-8 – Analyse a poem from the anthology, considering your own interpretation of it.

Anthology Poetry – lesson fourteen The description makes the “city” sound pure, almost heavenly. The white streets of that city, the graceful slopes glow even clearer as time rolls its tanks and the frontiers rise between us, close like waves. That child’s vocabulary I carried here like a hollow doll, opens and spills a grammar. Soon I shall have every coloured molecule of it. It may by now be a lie, banned by the state but I can’t get it off my tongue. It tastes of sunlight. Time is personified as an enemy, but it can’t affect the speaker’s memories. This seems to refer to the language of her childhood – the metaphor makes the language seem bright and precious. Using another sense (taste) increases the vividness of the experience. Level 1-2– identify skills required in the exam Level 3-4 – understand what the examiner will be looking for Level 5-6 – Interpret a poem from the anthology Level 7-8 – Analyse a poem from the anthology, considering your own interpretation of it.

Anthology Poetry – lesson fourteen The first line of the stanza sounds hopeless, but the next line changes the mood again. The city is personified – the “white plane” could represent the speaker’s memories. I have no passport, there’s no way back at all but my city comes to me in its own white plane. It lies down in front of me, docile as paper; I comb its hair and love its shining eyes. My city takes me dancing through the city of walls. They accuse me of absence, they circle me. They accuse me of being dark in their free city. My city hides behind me. They mutter death, and my shadow falls as evidence of sunlight. There’s a childlike joy in this description – it sounds like a child playing with a pet. Contrasting perceptions of the city the speaker is now in- she sees it as restrictive, but “they” see it as “free”. It’s unclear who “they” are, but they are menacing, and the repetition reinforces their threat to the speaker. The speaker is accused of being “dark” in her current city – this contrasts with the brightness she associates with her old city. The poem ends on a positive note – despite the threats of death, the city is still associated with “sunlight”, just as it is at the end of the first two stanzas. Level 1-2– identify skills required in the exam Level 3-4 – understand what the examiner will be looking for Level 5-6 – Interpret a poem from the anthology Level 7-8 – Analyse a poem from the anthology, considering your own interpretation of it.