“November”

A Poem by Simon Armitage

English 10 Wessam Kanes

Overview

• Poem

• Summary

• Annotations

• Key Literary Features

• Personal Response

• Literal Representation

• Symbolic Representation

• Tableau

NOVEMBER

We walk to the ward from the badly parked

car

with your grandma taking four short steps

to our two.

We have brought her here to die and we

know it. 

You check her towel, soap and family

trinkets,

pare her nails, parcel her in the rough

blankets

and she sinks down into her incontinence.

You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive

through the twilight zone, past the famous station

to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol.

It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles,

in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their

baldness

and in us John: we are almost these monsters. 

 

 Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin.

Outside we watch the evening, failing again,

and we let it happen. We can say nothing. 

Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel

alive.

One thing we have to get, John, out of this

life.

SUMMARY

• Armitage describes his and John’s experience when taking his grandmother to the ward one last time to die.

• Themes:• Eventually, all of the leaves will fall off the tree. • Everyone’s end will come• Time makes us monsters• Death is inevitable. We have to enjoy life while we

can

Annotations

LITERARY TERMS

• Alliteration

• Rhyme

• Tone

• Visual Imagery

• Ambiguity

• Enjambment

• Symbolism

Alliteration

Rhyme

Tone - Diction

One thing we have to get, John, out of

this life.We walk to the ward from the badly

parked car

Outside we watch the evening, failing

again,

Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel

alive.

Tone - StructureStructure 6 Stanzas (5X3) +

Couplet

Depressed Tone

Elevated Tone

Change in Tone = Change in Structure

“Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel

alive.

One thing we have to get, John, out of this

life.”

Visual Imagery

Visual Imagery

Effects:-Much more interesting to imagine-Aids the readers in conjuring the image the author wanted to convey

AmbiguitySometimes the sun spangles and

we feel alive.

One thing we have to get, John,

out of this life.Punctuation - Death is a natural occurrence. We all have to get out of life and die someday.

We need to enjoy everyday and gain as many good memories ‘sun spangles’ as we can.

Purpose: Used to leave the reader brooding about which perspective they should look at things from.

You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive

through the twilight zone, past the famous station

to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol.

Ambiguity

Shattered: - Emotionally shattered rather than physically Twilight Zone: - An old TV thriller show from the 60’s.Twilight: - The light you get when dusk is falling or dawn is rising. John is confused. He is between the dusk or dawn zone. Not knowing if what he did was right? Maybe thinking he could have prevented it in a way.

DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS

Enjambment

You check her towel, soap and family trinkets,

pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets

and she sinks down into her incontinence.

We walk to the ward from the badly

parked car

with your grandma taking four short steps

to our two.

We have brought her here to die and we

know it. 

SymbolismTitle:

NOVEMBER• Denotation: The month of November is dominated

by the season of fall. Within the fall season, the trees loose their leaves in preparation for winter. In winter the trees stop blooming and growing – ‘die’.

• Connation: This is significant to how the author wrote about the grandmother who was being preparing to die.

Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin.

Outside we watch the evening, failing again,

and we let it happen. We can say nothing. 

Symbolism

Dusk: Dark hours of night

Symbolizes Death

As time passes by, we feel the terror of death begin.

It is time John. In their pasty bloodless

smiles,

in their slack breasts, their stunned brains

and their baldness

and in us John: we are almost these

monsters. 

Symbolism

Time makes us older. Thus, transforming us into the monsters of old age.

Symbolizes Life span (Good and Bad). Causes - transformation to old age

Personal Response

This poem is one of a kind. It advocates the brutal reality of life and makes one think about their own life. Have they lived it wisely? How productive has their life been?

It also emphasizes on the fact that one day we will all go. Although, this is something that people try to avoid thinking about, the author believes that accepting it makes life easier to go about.

Literal Representation

John and his grandmother.

Symbolic Representation

Tableau

Bibliography (Images)

• November. Digital image. Http://pixelcurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/november_field_3.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.

• Cartoon Gravestone. Digital image. Http://www.halloweenclipart.com/halloween_clipart_images/rip_on_a_gravestone_0521-1010-2321-1007_SMU.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.

• Grandma. Digital image. Http://familyautopacks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/products_img/image-47.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.