POEMS

SUMMARY
Forgive My Guilt ü  An adult is reminiscing about a traumatic childhood experience. ü  The persona went hunting and shot two birds, plovers. He suffers extreme guilt about this action in adulthood. ü  The poem describes the event, the actions of the bird, how he reacts ü  The poem ends with the persona asking the birds to forgive his guilt Mid Term Break ü  An adult is reminiscing about a traumatic childhood experience. ü  He remembers being a child in the college sick bay – he was not ill and had been taken there as something had happened. A neighbour then arrived and took the poet home, where it becomes clear that something terrible has happened.  ü  The poem describes, in detail, the reactions of all those around him, but only hints at his emotions: His father was crying and this was entirely out of character and the family friend Jim Evans was there.  Old men greet the child and shake his hand. ü  The poem ends with a change of scene and time, as the child enters the room of his dead brother the next morning and he attempts to make sense of what has happened.	Forgive My Guilt ü  Free verse – depicts the serious nature of the poem ü  Two long stanzas – one, the experience and two, the effect – emphasizing the extent of the guilt, the eternal pain of the persona that continue even to adulthood ü  The literary devices are vivid, clear and concise, leaving no doubt as to the shocking nature of the persona’s actions. ü  The contrast enhances the image of the birds’ suffering and the feeling of guilt experienced by the persona ü  Lineation speaks to the consistent mood, emotions of the persona Mid Term Break ü  Free verse – depicts the serious nature of the poem ü  Eight very short stanzas emphasize the suddenness of the child’s death, the shock of it, as well as the torturous  nature of not only the ‘wait’, but the time it took for the persona to accept his brother’s death ü  The literary devices stress the varying emotions at every stage of the experience – boredom, distress etc. ü  Contrast of the baby’s cooing emphasizes the reactions of everyone else. Also, there is a contrast between the eventful start – death, reactions, etc. – and the calm that leads into the end – the arrival of the corpse, the snowdrops soothing the bedside etc. ü  Assonance stresses the abruptness with which the boy’s life was taken ü  Lineation speaks to the varying emotions, and atmosphere etc. expressed in the persona’s description of his experience.