Poetry: Thirteen Flashcards
Thirteen
4 minutes
Line 1
’ You will be 4 minutes from home’
- The use of modal verb ‘will’ - makes it seem inevitable, definitely will occur
- makes it seem relatable and personal
Thirteen
warm teeth
Line 14
‘You will show the warmth of your teeth’
- teeth (bone, cold lifeless) and warmth juxtaposition conveys inevatbilty of situation
Thirteen
lots for organs
Line 16/17
Plump/ You will watch as the two men cast lots for your organs’
- animalistic, not if they get his organs, who will get his organs
- just flesh, nothing more
- ‘plump’ - adjective used to describe game birds
Thirteen
‘dying stars’
LIne 23/24
‘dying stars/on the verge of becoming black holes’
- reversal of situation, only stars of youth, now viewed as black holes, take eveything, no giving light
- ‘on the verge’ - about to become a threat
Thirteen
thirteen
‘You fit the description of a man? – You’ll laugh. Thirteen, you’ll tell him: you’re thirteen.’
- ‘laugh’ has connnotations of happiness which is uncanny in the situation, lamb to the slaughter
- ‘Thirteen’ - repetition shows incredulity of the situation, can be contrasted with ‘man’
smile so bright (Thirteen)
- ‘the same officer who had an horizon in the east of his smile’
- STAR IMAGERY, so bright its like sunrise
supernovas 1(Thirteen)
- ‘supernovas, the biggest and brightest stars’
- STAR IMAGERY
- brightness, youth
my supernova (Thirteen)
- ‘praying he remembers the heat of your supernova’
- STAR IMAGERY
- praying
fear liquid (Thirteen)
- ‘While fear condenses on your lips’
- FEAR SO REAL CONDENSED FROM IN AIR TO LIQUID
supernova real talk (Thirteen)
- ‘about supernovas/ how they are, in fact, dying stars/ on the verge of becoming black holes’
- black holes - suck up everything ( even light) shows progression from supernovas
- verge of - verge of becoming bad
commonness of the situation (Thirteen)
- ‘ Gloucester Primary School/ A Wednesday Assembly’
- shows commonality and ordinariness of the situation
