Critical Essay of the poem “In the Snack Bar” by Edwin Morgan

“In the Snack Bar” by Edwin Morgan provides the reader with a sensitive yet bleak insight into the pitiful side of human existence. Morgan’s poem deals effectively with how urban society unfairly treats those who are old and disabled, leaving the reader with a sense of despair as they reflect on society as a whole.

 

Focusing on the pathetic figure of a blind, hunch-backed old man, the speaker in the poem unveils the grim reality of the human condition. The language of the poem is matter-of-fact and everyday, thereby mirroring the unromantic nature of the scene it depicts. And yet, even the language, in its bare simplicity, creates such vivid imagery, which reminds the reader that, even in the darkest, most depressing aspects of life, the human spirit struggles on.

Through its use of language and poetic technique, the poem explores the miserable side of life. The opening line of ‘a cup capsizing on the formica’ and the use of the descriptive word ‘slithering’ instantly gains the attention of the reader, showing contrast that despite the noise created in this greasy spoon cafe ‘few heads turn’. This is followed with a detailed description of the old man for whom every movement is a momentous effort; the poem conveys a sense of exclusion and horror. The simile of a “monstrous animal” with his “face not seen” highlights the man’s outsider status. The horror of his predicament is conveyed by the words used to describe him:

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        Long blind, hunchback born, half paralysed.

The description is given in a mundane and list-like fashion, emphasising the multiple physical disabilities this man has to contend with. The reader is encouraged to see the man through the eyes of the onlookers in the snack bar. At first, the faceless, therefore inhuman, figure of the old man evokes repulsion, but, the clever positioning of the words ‘if he could see’ at the end of line 15, just as the speaker “notice[s] now his stick”, so too does the reader recognise the cruel physical disabilities the man is suffering.

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