John Foulcher: - General Study Guide and analysis of 2 poems
For the Fire:
Narrator: Either - Man walking by
- Man collecting twigs
- Fulcher himself
Attitude & Tone: - Report style
- No emotions shown, except one of mystery
when he hears 'thuds'
Choice of words: - Chosen for its simplicity. This comes from it's
6, 2 line stanzas. It is also seen from the fact
one thought is used per stanza
- Use of sentual words. Sounds are used to express
to the reader emotions and visuals for the reader
to visualize.
- Use of harsh words to show violence. The use of
things such as 'thud' (line 2) would give one
the impression of a person walking, but it is
actually a Kookaburra beating to death a lizard.
Other words depicting violence in this poem are
words such as 'hacks' and 'axe-blade'. Also the
use of 'axe-blade beak' gives the reader a
feeling of harshness
Use of violence - Shown in the poem through use of the following
and horror: words: 'sparse', 'dead','hacks', 'axe-blade',
'stunned open', 'pouting blood', clutching',
'bones are smashed', 'flays' and 'cold air
congealing'.
Purpose of Peom: - To display several aspects of society, nature and
exploitation. Society is displayed like nature,
survival of the fitest. It also portrays man's
exploitation of many situations. (eg.press and
michael jacksons/royal family)
Martin and the Hand Grenades:
Narrator: Teacher
Scene: Class room (History lesson)
Meanings of - '..the class pauses/for history..' has two
Specific Quotes: meanings/definitions. The first, more literal one
means the class is stopping to listen to a history
class. The second, more deeper meaning, is one
where the class stops to experience the past
- The word 'bleak' in the sentence, 'his father's
bleak skill' means somber or dull. It's also
a sign of negetivity
- The use of '...he fingers the serations...' suggests
a sensual,sexual mood. This is in reference to how
the boy is handling the grenade. It is like he is
being taken to another world
- The word 'bristles' in the phrase 'bristles
with shrapnel/possibilities', is an example of
a word which shows the anger of the narrator. He
talks about how the boy plays with an object which
can kill, or badly injure a person
- The line '...the spread/became too loose to catch a
man's mortality...', means after a certain distance
it is no longer powerful enough to kill someone. The
effect of this line is one of sarcasm, questioning
sarcastically, why it only kills people that far away
and not futher
Additional Notes: The classroom is a battle zone due to the way each
student is 'wounded' every time they hold the
grenade. The classes reaction to the grenade is one
of great excitment. This is a contrast to the
narrators views, who is in fact disgraced. This can
be seen as the teacher describes the experience
using the words, 'tears the heart ahead'.
This shows how each student is getting more than
excitment from the grenade, but is actually being
mentally effected by it
Only 2 poems are anaylised here, although 6 poems from each Poet should be
studied. An enourmous IFF (243k - 2480x3300x1) has been included which
contains summaries of 6 of his poems broken down into Narrator, Structure,
Attitude and Tone, and Purpose (for the poems: Summer Rain, Harry Wood,
Martin and the hand grenade, Loch Ard Gorge, For the Fire, and Bradman's
Last Innings).
Return to last menu
Converted on 22 Jul 1996 with RexxDoesAmigaGuide2HTML by Michael Ranner.