1. In the Snack Bar : revision
What happens in the poem?
Events Stanza 1
Cup ‘capsizes’
Narrator sees old man
Realises he’s blind
Old man asks to go to toilet
Events Stanza 2
Crossing the snack bar to the stairs
Descending the stairs
Urinating
Washing and drying hands
Ascending stairs (dramatic climax)
Old man gets on bus
Events Stanza 3
Narrator thinks about how hard the old man’s life is

2. In the Snack Bar : revision
Theme (central concerns)
Empathy (understanding how someone else feels)
Disability
Human nature

3. In the Snack Bar : revision
Who are the (two) characters in each?
What do we learn about them?
Narrator does not want to be involved at first
Narrator comes to an understanding of old man’s life (empathy)
Old man seems monstrous until narrator makes an effort to understand him

4. In the Snack Bar : revision
Poetic techniques:
Repetition
Sound techniques (alliteration / onomatopoeia)
Imagery (animal caught in a tent)
Oxymoron (contradiction)

5. Good Friday Revision What happens in the poem? Events
Narrator sees drunk man getting on bus
Drunk man talks about guilt, religion and education/class
Drunk man gets off bus
Theme (central concerns)
Religion
Social class / education

6. Good Friday Revision Who are the (two) characters in each
What do we learn about them
Narrator = educated / remains silent
Drunk man – kind / anxious to be understood / certain that narrator is superior to him
Poetic techniques used
Realistic speech
Dialect (Glaswegian)
Repetition
Layout (last line)
Allusion (religious)

7. Trio revision What happens in the poem? Events
Narrator sees three people walking in street at Christmas
Each is carrying something nice
Narrator fantasises about the things they are carrying having supernatural power
The three people will prevent bad things happening
The people disappear, but the ideas remain in the narrator’s mind
Theme (central concerns)
Happiness
The supernatural

8. Trio revision Who are the (two) characters in each
What do we learn about them
Narrator – having a daydream / fantasy / attaching importance to the three people that they do not actually have
Narrator – voyeuristic (likes to watch)
Three people compared to three wise men
All three are happy

9. Trio revision Poetic techniques used
Allusion (biblical story of Christmas / Greek Myth)
Realistic speech
Imagery
Alliteration
Oxymoron (vanished yet not vanished)