What are your impressions of “Nothing’s Changed”
Nothing’s changed is a very intense poem, it is showing the black boy’s feeling towards what he is seeing and experiencing during his life. The poet tells the reader how he's angry due to the attitude towards black people. There are many violent and physical emotions in this poem. He makes the words and phrases come to life, for example "small round hard stones click" and "cans trodden on, crunch" by using this technique a physical response is brought into the poem. This feeling of conflict and physical tension makes the reader feel on edge. It makes the reader feel like tension is building. The poet tells the reader how he knows he's in district six by "the soft labouring" of his lungs and "the skin" about his bones, also "the anger" in his eyes. Anger and physical tension are very important in this poem. I believe it is mainly what the poem is about. To make the feeling of anger and tension build up more. The poet refers to heat a lot, for example "flaring like a flag." Words like "hot", " white", "burn" and "flaring" are used throughout the poem to keep the anger flowing. I feel that this situation is rather like in a boiler, the pressure and heat is building steadily but it can only take so much. The poet also tells the reader that he doesn't feel welcome in this country, despite there are no "sign says it is.”
