'Sheenagh Pugh presents us with a Sad View of the Future and a Grim Warning of What Could Be. Discuss How She Does This, Paying Particular Attention to the way She Uses Mood and Language and how She Organizes the Poem.'

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Shaun May 10C        Page  of         25th November, 2002

‘Sheenagh Pugh presents us with a Sad View of the Future and a Grim Warning of What Could Be. Discuss How She Does This, Paying Particular Attention to the way She Uses Mood and Language and how She Organizes the Poem.’

In this poem analysis I am studying three poems by Sheenagh Pugh in the earth studies trilogy. The titles are, ‘The Craft I Left in was Called Esau’, ‘Do You Think We’ll Ever get to See Earth Sir?’ and ‘Geography 1’.  

‘The Craft I Left in was Called Esau’ is all about a group of astronauts who leave earth to find anther world because they have destroyed their home, earth.

‘Do You Think We’ll Ever get to See Earth Sir?’ is all about a person who realizes his home has been destroyed, there is nothing left and everything is precious and rare.

‘Geography 1’ is all about a teacher called Christy who is giving a geography lesson about the island of Surtsey which was ‘born’ late and ‘lost’ to soon.

My first poem that I will analyse is called ‘The Craft I Left in was Called Esau’. The poem is about human survivors who are leaving Earth to find another world because they have destroyed their home. The poem is trying to say that even though they will not be coming back to Earth, they are very excited about being in Space looking down at their lost home as if it were a small stone.

The poem is set out as 24 short-worded lines and is also written in a free-flowing verse just like ‘Do you think we’ll ever get to see earth sir?’.

The poem creates a sad atmosphere, by using phrases such as ‘not back to port’. This shows that they, the survivors, are trying not to feel sad and are not looking back. They are looking forward to the place that they are going and the future that they will have. In line 2, one of the survivors says ‘at least that was the name scratched on the smooth door’, which creates sound in the poem – sibilance – the use of the ‘s’ on ‘scratched’ and ‘smooth’. This could also be an example of a simile.

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In lines 6-7, Sheenagh Pugh uses another simile, ‘People joked nervously; just like a plane flight’. This creates a good atmosphere with good use of the simile ‘just like a plane flight’ because it is something that the readers can relate to. Also the phrase ‘nervously joked’ conveys the general mood of the survivors, who are on the flight, which is uncertainty and fear.

In line 8, it says ‘They found seats, wondered if their bags would fit’. I think this phrase discreetly shows more atmosphere in the poem as the survivors are worrying over the most trivial things ...

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This is a well written report that demonstrates a good understanding of some key tools. 1. The use of examples is good. 2. The identification of tools is good. 3. There could be a more in depth analysis of why particular tools have been used. ****