One of the techniques that Morgan uses in this poem is the simile. The first simile is, “he stands in his stained beltless gabardine like a monstrous animal caught in a tent in some story.” This simile describes the man’s appearance. It is effective because it clearly creates the image of how grotesquely disfigured the man looks with his hunchback straining against the material of his coat, in the same way a giant magical creature like a dragon would if it were caught in a tent and pressing up against the side.
The second simile is, “a few yards of floor are like a landscape to be negotiated.” This simile creates the picture of the man finding it incredibly difficult to cross the floor, as difficult as an ordinary person would find it to cross a landscape of rocks and boulders.
The final and shortest simile in the poem is, “his hands like wet leaves.” In my opinion, this is the best simile in the poem because Morgan uses the fewest words possible, but it still creates a clear image of how weak this man actually is. It takes absolutely no strength whatsoever to fold or bend wet leaves, therefore the reader can only imagine how frail and weak the man is.
Another technique used by Morgan is repetition. He uses repetition several times during the poem, for example “And slowly we go down. And slowly we go down.”, then later on, “And slowly we go up. And slowly we go up.” The repetition slows down the reading of the poem. This in turn adds to the effect of how slow the man is. To stop the poem from being the same all the way through Morgan changes to using near repetition, for example “the faltering, unfaltering steps” and then, “endless, yet not endless.” This also slows down the reading of the poem, but also helps to give us a positive impression of how much the disabled persevere – though their steps my falter, they eventually succeed in what they are doing.
Three times during the poem direct speech is used, “I want-to go to the-toilet,” “Give me-your arm-it’s better” and “Can I-wash my hands?” As can be seen there are dashes used unexpectedly. These could be used for two reasons. Firstly, to create the impression that the man is embarrassed to express his private needs in public. Secondly, he needs to pause to catch his breath, which emphasizes his weakness. I think that the second reason is the most likely, because it seems to tie in with the rest of the poem better.
The final technique that I found interesting is the way in which Morgan puts himself in the position of the blind man, “I concentrate my life to his.” This helps the reader to understand just what it is like to be blind and disabled, because of the way in which Morgan describes the journey and what they hear and feel along the way, “crunch of spilled sugar,” “hiss of the coffee-machine” and “smell of cigars.” I think in many ways this is the most effective technique used because it allows the reader to be more involved in the poem and it invites the reader to think about these people in society and what they go through.
Throughout this poem Morgan made it clear that the issue he wants to get across is the plight of the disabled in society today. He emphasised this by his use of the simile, repetition, direct speech and his way of making himself become the disabled man. This poem really made me think of what the disabled go through and it made me more liable to help them in the future.
