• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

GCSE: Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes

Browse by

Currently browsing by:

Meet our team of inspirational teachers

find out about the team

Get help from 80+ teachers and hundreds of thousands of student written documents

  1. Compare the brief encounters between two 'culture clashes' in 'An Old Woman' by Arun Kolatkur and 'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

    The setting for his poem 'Downtown San Francisco'. The garbagemen are 'looking down into a elegant open Mercedes', the elder 'looking down like some gargoyle Quasimodo' at 'the young blonde' with 'a short skirt and colored stockings'. The poet retains a separation between his characters 'both scavengers gazing down as from a great distance' and by making reference to the brevity of the meeting: 'And the very red light for an instant holding all four close together', highlights this brief snap-shot encounter and in fact accentuates the 'gulf' between the two parties.

    • Word count: 1205

  2. SWOT and PEST analysis for Mercedes-Benz

    Now I will go through the opportunities in SWOT. Not only the company has a lot of strengths in the present days, they have the opportunities which leads the business will be improved in the future as well. Opportunities for Mercedes-Benz * Joint venture. * Improving safety, comfort, and sustainable mobility. * Providing fascinated vehicles for customers by the supportive of DaimlerChrysler Group * Professional sport sponsorship Before we go through the opportunities of the business, we have to take seriously on the threats at first.

    • Word count: 1244

  3. nothings changed and 2 scavengers

    In Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes it says "his architects office" this also is a way of writing that he is rich. Both poems are comparing the "upper class" to the lower, this tells us that the poems convey the same message that although everyone should be equal the aren't. Nothings Changed is about an area in South Africa during the time of apartheid, when black and white people had different sets of rights and were forced to live separately from one another.

    • Word count: 1394

  4. Compare the ways in which the poet presents people in "Two scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes" and one other poem from in different cultures and traditions

    in a truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes" The first stanza of "Two scavengers in a truck, Two beautiful people in a Mercedes" starts off by setting the scene, "...two garbage men...an elegant couple" It tells the reader that there are four people at a traffic light and one couple is completely different to the other, it is straight to the point, and so the reader knows what is happening just from reading the first stanza. However, in Nothing's Changed the poet starts of telling the reader about a personal experience (so it is written in first person), it

    • Word count: 1174

  5. Comparison between the poem Nothings Changed and the poem Two Scavengers in a Truck

    He states that even after the victory of democracy and the anti-apartheid government coming into action, nothing has changed and the fact that r****m is still all around him and dissimilarity still exists. Whilst I believe that the poem 'Two Scavengers in a Truck' is much simpler, for instance in places it is written as if in vivid key colours, so we automatically see the phrases "yellow garbage truck" and the "red plastic blazers". We distinguish the specific arrangement of the group of diverse people, all waiting at a stoplight and the bin men are looking down into the "elegant open Mercedes", and the rich elegant couple within.

    • Word count: 1290

  6. Two poems from different cultures-'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two beautiful People in Mercedes'and 'Nothings Changed'.

    The writer tells us that the garbage men have been up since four a.m. This tells us that they are hard workers. In contrast, the poet describes the couple in the Mercedes as- 'The man in a hip three piece linen suit with shoulder length blond hair and sunglasses' The young woman so casually coifed with a short skirt and coloured stockings on the way the way to his architect's office'. This description creates the image of a couple who have a very laid-back lifestyle and are cool but without effort. The poet describes the woman as 'casually coifed'.

    • Word count: 1946

  7. Comparing poems of different cultures

    I will first describe each poem in separately and then compare the different aspects of the poems in together. Finally, I shall conclude the essay by writing the writer's intentions towards their poems. In 'Night of the Scorpion' Nissim Ezekiel remembers "the night" his "mother was stung by a scorpion". The poem is not really on the subject of the scorpion or its sting, but on the distinguishing reactions of the family, neighbours and his father, with the mother's dignity and courage. The scorpion is said to be sheltering from ten hours of rain, but so fearful of people that it "risks the rain again" after stinging the poet's mother.

    • Word count: 1070

  8. Compare 'Nothing's Changed' with 'Two Scavengers in a Truck', showing how the poets reveal their ideas and feelings about the particular cultures and traditions that they are writing about

    In this way he vividly conveys the emotions that Black people suffer as a result of discrimination, as he becomes a part of them. Afrika demonstrates the suppressed anger and resentment that clearly bubbles beneath the surface when he says: 'the hot white inwards turning of my eyes'. Through his use of harsh images such as 'brash with glass', 'it squats' and the symbolism of danger, blood and violence behind the image of 'a single red rose', he demonstrates his strong emotions on the issue of discrimination.

    • Word count: 1340

  9. What impression do you get from each of the two worlds in the poems, and which of the poems provide the strongest contrast and why?

    This situation makes him really angry because the white people were seated inside the exclusive restaurant with its ice white glasses and single rose on the table while the black people in Africa ate on plastic table top and wiped their hands on their jeans. The poem is set out in six stanzas and each of the stanzas consists of eight lines which are fairly short. Stanza one consists of a single sentence and it describes what the sees when he first walks into the country that was his homeland "...cans trodden on crunch in tall purple flowering, amiable weeds".

    • Word count: 1348
9 essays

Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

  1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
  2. Do they answer the question directly?
  3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

  • Compare the brief encounters between two 'culture clashes' in 'An Old Woman' by Arun Kolatkur and 'Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

    "Towards the end of both poems the poets reach their conclusions both are drawn to a close with their feelings of inequality, Ferlinghetti closes his poem with irony; American democracy 'in which everything is always possible' and then in the following verse states 'as if anything at all were possible' leaves us questioning the reality of opportunity - does one ever get to 'cross the line'? Arun Kolatkur's poem on the other hand is intensely personal he concludes that this 'old woman' managed to achieve a moral victory and all he is left to consider his humiliation in the face of a humanitarian struggle and the fact that his very being was 'reduced to so much small change in her hand'. Both poets conclude with their intentions of the poem. Ferlinghetti remarks sarcastically at the inequality of democracy which supposedly puts countries like America above the third world countries whilst Arun Kolatkur leaves us with a message about humility and humanity, it is not for the wealthy to assume a moral high ground."

  • Compare how the two poets explore cultural issues in their work

    "In conclusion, in have summarised the two poems in general, looking in detail at how they are similar in different ways and how they are different in others. I have successfully looked at and analysed the styles, content and attitudes on both of the poems, comparing them where necessary. So, I have successful addressed the task set to me and explored cultural differences and attitudes in the works of these two poets."

  • Compare the ways in which the poets present people in "Two Scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes" and "Island Man"

    "In my opinion looking at this poem the lines reflect the shape and action of the sea. The wave line shape of the lines gives a slow rhythm. Some phrases in this poem are detached to draw more reader's attention. Throughout the poem there is a bit of rhyme used "soar, roar". There is also alliteration used with the letter 'S', "Sun Surfing, Sound of Blue Surf" "Groggily, groggily, muffling, muffling" repetition and alliteration. There is no punctuation through the whole poem, however, she uses capital letters. Reading these two poems I have noticed that they present people but in every different circumstances and for different reasons. However, the messages are very different. Both poems use shape imaginatively but on the other hand both poems are very different. By Yuliya Boychuk 10P"

Marked by a teacher

This document has been marked by one of our great teachers. You can read the full teachers notes when you download the document.

Peer reviewed

This document has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review on the document page.

Peer reviewed

This document has been reviewed by one of our specialist student document reviewing squad. Read the full review under the document preview on this page.