POTD summaries Flashcards
(20 cards)
Eat Me
A disturbing dramatic monologue exploring themes of control, consumption, and fetishism in a feeder-feedeé relationship.
Key themes: Power, gender, body image, dominance/submission.
Tightly controlled form mirrors the control in the relationship. Dark, ironic tone with a shift in power.
Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass
An extended metaphor for masculinity’s destructive, frustrated energy confronting enduring femininity.
Themes: Gender conflict, power, violence vs. passivity, nature vs. technology.
Free verse with erratic rhythm. Satirical, bitter tone.
Material
Reflects on mother’s era of handkerchiefs to explore changes in motherhood, tradition, and generational loss.
Themes: Nostalgia, loss, motherhood, changing social values.
Regular rhyme scheme; nostalgic, tinged with guilt.
History
Meditation on a day at the beach post-9/11 blending personal reflection with global trauma. Themes: Innocence vs. threat, fatherhood, memory, political anxiety. Disjointed stanzas mirror disruption. Quietly anxious tone.
An Easy Passage
Captures adolescence transition symbolized by a girl climbing into her house.
Themes: Adolescence, femininity, societal expectation, vulnerability.
Single flowing stanza; tender, wistful tone.
The Deliverer
Bleak portrayal of female infanticide and international adoption exposing gender brutality.
Themes: Gender inequality, motherhood, cultural contrast, dehumanisation.
Fragmented form; detached, critical tone.
The Lammas Hireling
Dark folkloric narrative of a farmer and mysterious hireling with supernatural consequences.
Themes: Guilt, supernatural, repression, transformation.
Gothic imagery; sinister, unstable tone.
To My Nine-Year-Old Self
Speaker addresses her younger self lamenting lost innocence and adulthood constraints.
Themes: Memory, childhood, regret, ageing.
Flowing structure; melancholic, affectionate tone.
A Minor Role
Illness likened to playing a minor part in a play, exploring identity and resilience.
Themes: Illness, dignity, facade, perseverance.
Dramatic metaphor; resilient, ironic tone.
The Gun
Gun in household awakens power, violence, sexual tension.
Themes: Death, power, masculinity, domestic space.
Stark imagery; sinister, unsettling tone.
The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled
Meditates on youthful freedom and emotional journeys of adulthood.
Themes: Identity, travel, memory, growth.
Free verse, anecdotal tone; playful, nostalgic.
Giuseppe
Surreal narrative of mermaid execution during wartime exploring complicity and guilt.
Themes: War, violence, guilt, morality.
Narrative style; detached, haunting tone.
Out of the Bag
Childhood perceptions of birth contrasted with adult understanding, centring on the doctor.
Themes: Birth, myth, science, transformation, memory.
Fragmented time shifts; reflective, reverent.
Effects
Man reflects on mother’s death and mundane items left behind.
Themes: Death, memory, working class, regret, motherhood.
Continuous stream of thought; regretful, sorrowful tone.
Genetics
Speaker considers identity formed from parents despite separation.
Themes: Family, identity, inheritance, separation.
Villanelle form; contemplative, tender tone.
From the Journal of a Disappointed Man
Man observes workmen reflecting on masculinity, purpose, alienation.
Themes: Masculinity, performance, futility, isolation.
Regular quatrains; detached, critical tone.
Look We Have Coming to Dover!
Explores immigrant experience in Britain with hybrid language use.
Themes: Immigration, identity, Britishness, hope.
Energetic, vibrant tone.
Please Hold
Surreal call-centre experience metaphor for dehumanisation.
Themes: Technology, control, frustration, passivity.
Stream-of-consciousness; ironic, darkly comic tone.
On Her Blindness
Son reflects on mother’s gradual blindness and quiet bravery.
Themes: Disability, dignity, family, grief.
Fragmented form; tender, raw tone.
Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn
Parody of Keats’ ode using chav culture to explore class and immortality.
Themes: Art, youth, class, permanence.
Satirical, ironic tone.
