King Billy Edwin Morgan

‘Grey over Riddrie the clouds piled up / dragged their rain through the cemetery trees.’ Contribution to scene and mood: Setting introduced – ‘Riddrie’. Uses personification – the clouds ‘dragged’ their rain. Suggests they’re heavy with rain. Suggests dull, dreary atmosphere – lots of grey clouds and penetrating rain. ‘cemetery’ – idea of death / mourning introduced.

‘...Wind rose / flaring the hissing leaves, the branches / swung heavy, across the lamps.’ Contribution to scene and mood: Weather worsening. ‘flaring’ – spreading the leaves everywhere. ‘hissing’ – onomatopoeia / personification – sinister connotations – hissing usually threatening sound. Heavy branches – makes them sound imposing / intimidating. Light being obscured by the trees moving in the wind – spooky / gothic atmosphere – stormy graveyard. Enjambment – ‘the branches’ – effect of branches swaying in the wind.

‘Gravestones huddled in drizzling shadow’ Contribution to scene and mood: ‘gravestones huddled’ – suggests weather so bad, they need to huddle together for shelter (personification). ‘drizzling shadow’ – refers to rain and darkness – adds to spooky / sinister atmosphere.

How structure of first 4 lines in second verse adds solemn dignity to the scene: A long sentence, which lists the various descriptive details of the funeral procession. Creates a slow rhythm which reflects the a slow respectful funeral march. Use of colon in line 4 to introduce elaboration – King Billy of Brigton has been introduced and now we are going to find out more about him.

How the poet conveys the poverty and violence of King Billy’s background. ‘brooding days of empty bellies’ ‘billiard smoke and sour pint’ ‘bad times / of idleness and boredom’ Violence ‘boots and fists’ ‘sherrickings’ – mass arguments. ‘the scuffle, the flash, the shout / bloody crumpling...’ ‘bricks’ ‘ambush’ ‘razors’

Structure of lines 19-24 Long list of endless violence. Quick listing – speed arguments turned into violence. Repetition – it was ongoing. Contrast – Billy Boys v. Conks – power shifts.

‘Sillitoe scuffs the razors down the stank’. An effective metaphor – comparing Chief Constable’s success in breaking down the power of the razor gangs to him kicking their razors down drains. Suggests he was personally responsible for eradicating the violence. Image of razors being washed down drain – into sewers where they belong. ‘stank’ – Glasgow word – sense of place (as if this is a Glaswegian telling us what he did).

Social comment in lines 28-29 Lines imply that the violence was born out of the poverty of the time. People had nothing better to do with themselves (‘idleness and boredom’).

How sympathy is aroused for King Billy. Billy Fullarton was born into poverty and a bad time, and this did not hold him back – he offered hope to some disaffected people in Glasgow at the time. However, he was soon forgotten by the people as their circumstances improved. He ended up forgotten and alone – he used to be a legendary figure (contrast of his lonely death / busy funeral attended by hundreds of mourners).

‘...the flutes / threw ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ to the winds / from unironic lips...’ It is ironic that a Christian song is playing at the funeral of someone who was very un-Christian in his actions (a violent murderer). However, much of the violence was born out of religious differences – Catholic v. Protestant. The mourners do not realise the irony – they are unaware of the discrepancy in what they are doing.

Language used to give sense of time and place: To Our Leader of Thirty Years Ago Bad times References to the gangs / poverty / events of the time. Place References to Riddrie / Brigton / Bridgeton Cross Gangs / characters Descriptive setting at beginning.