John Montague

John Montague

1. Difficult Chilhood

2. Emigrated to America at the time of the "The Great Depression"

   • Birth was complicated described in "The Locket"came out feet first instead of head first

3. Killing the pig

   • Description of slaughtering a pig
   • Opening is abrupt "The Noise"
   • Immediately the poet gives the pig a sense of identity by addressing him as "He was pulled out" making it more dramatic
     • Then addresses the readers directly and assumes what we are thinking "Don't say they are not intelligent"
       • uses vivid imagery to evoke our sympathy "They dig in their little trotters"
   • unique sound from the pig " That high pitched final effort" last cry for help embedded in his memory now
     • "a big plane roaring off a diva soaring towards her last note" trying to compare words can't justify what he has to the horrific noise
       • "full stop." end of the pigs life
         • "swiftly" repetion. It is a reoccurring procedure
         • "A child" Innocence and life
           • "walls of the farmyard still hold the scream" Death is common on farms

4. Unwanted child

5. The locket

   • Troubled relationship with mother
   • Her death sparks the written of the poem"Sing a last song for the lady who has gone"
   • He feels at fault for mothers pain "the worst birth in the annals of broklyn" guilt- afflicting pain "that was my cue to come only first claim to fame"
   • Second stanza shows cold natured of mother
   • wanted a girl
   • "couldn't excuse my double blunder" blaming himself
     • "not readily forgiven "his so called sins are not yet forgiven"
       • 3 stanza"So you" change in conversation. directing conversation towards his mother
         • no love or affection shown towards son "never nursed me"
           • abanded, hurt and pain "Then you gave me away might never have known me"
             • efforts of mending broken relationship"to court you like a young man"
               • shows admiration for his mother in stanza 5 "lovely Molly, the belle of your small town"
                 • shows sympathy for her "as the constant rain that lashes it wound into your cocoon of pain"
                   • "Don't come again you say roughly I start to get fond of you, John and then you are up and gone" spent life alone. emotionally damaged
                     • understands her "Harsh logic"
   • "You wore an oval locket with an old picture in it of a child in Brooklyn" dispute a strange relationship sense of optimism that mother still loves him.

6. The Cage

   • relationship with his father
   • Title: sense of imprissonment
   • "My Father" conversation draws us in
     • "his face retained the pallor" unhealthy appearance
       • "the lost years in Brooklyn" no time for connection/relationship
         • "listening to a subway shudder the earth" life dominated by the subway
           • "Traditional irish man" suggests alcoholic
             • "released from his grille" highlights imprissonment
               • drank until he was drunk. "felt at home" suggests only comfort is drink
                 • 4th stanza he returns and there is optimism that things were the same again "when he came back we walked together"
                   • Relationship was never mended " did not smile in the shared complicity"
                     • mythical tale of Odysseus and Telemachus
                       • often sees his father when he returns to the subway through "the bars of the small booth"
                         • Metaphor for there relationship as it spent most of the time underground
   • Shows admiration
     • "and yet he picked himself up most mornings"

7. All Legendary obstacles

   • love poem
   • Realistic view of love
   • Geographical poem
   • gives us an epic tale of the obstacles are the natural barriers of great America plans
   • Can be read on a symbolic level geographical distance = eustional distance physical obstacles represent difficulties in the relationship
   • stanza 2: "By the San Francisco chief or golden gate, water dripping from great flanged wheels" just as the train has to avoid obstacles so does their love
   • "until our chilled hands met" physically and emotionally cold from separation
   • mountains ups and downs

8. The same Gesture

   • Honest assessment of what love is
   • 1st Stanza: loves appearance "there is a secret room" lovers share "of golden light" richness of love
     • "love, violence" physical traits
       • "hatred is possible and again love" love is complex
   • though the world is mundane the memories of romances is never forgotten
   • Title: indicates reoccurring gesture
   • "like court music" elegance of love
     • "nakedly" highlights intimacy
   • "work, phone, drive" back to reality routine of everyday life