Brothers by Andrew Forster: poem analysis and context

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Brothers

Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and Paul

ambled across the threadbare field to the bus stop,

talking over Sheffield Wednesday’s chances in the Cup

while you skipped beside us in your ridiculous tank-top,

spouting six-year-old views on Rotherham United.

Suddenly you froze, said you hadn’t any bus fare.

I sighed, said you should go and ask Mum

and while you windmilled home I looked at Paul.

His smile, like mine, said I was nine and he was ten

and we must stroll the town, doing what grown-ups do.

As a bus crested the hill we chased Olympic Gold.

Looking back I saw you spring towards the gate,

your hand holding out what must have been a coin.

I ran on, unable to close the distance I’d set in motion.

ANDREW FORSTER

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

narrator is remembering a moment of his childhood, where him and his elder brother are given responsibility of their younger brother, they are exasperated with him but at the same time excited to be out on their own, like "adults". They see and opportunity to ditch their brother when he forgets his bus money, and when he goes back to get his money the brothers run on.

FORM

it's a narrative poem addressing the six year old brother in the poem, it's written in "free verse" which make it sound like a story spoken in English, this gives it a raw and personal feeling, the poem is also written back on an event with an apologetic tone

STRUCTURE

the first stanza establishes the relationship between the brothers, the second explains how the youngest had to go back, and the third is about how the youngest was left behind and hints the impact this could have had.

LANGUAGE (about youth yo)

"spouting six year old views" - alliteration sense of contempt as his views are useless as he is only "six". "windmilled" suggests innocent joy. "I was nine and he was ten" contrast between how young the are and how old and mature they feel.

alliteration - emphasise the ridiculous views of the six year old. much of the poem contrasts the younger child's youthful exuberance with the older brothers sense of self possession and maturity which is still mixed with the imagination of children

LANGUAGE (about maturity)

written in hindsight of actual events with actual maturity where the poet acknowledges that this was a bad moment for the brother's relationship. "stroll" - mature with much confidence, "saddled" frustration. "doing what grown ups do" - sense of assumed maturity, "olympic gold" - conveys sense of prowess that younger brother lacks, idea of superiority

themes ~

frustration

guilt/remorse

regret

Praise Song for My Mother

You were

water to me

deep and bold and fathoming

You were

moon’s eye to me

pull and grained and mantling

You were

sunrise to me

rise and warm and streaming

You were

the fishes red gill to me

the flame tree’s spread to me

the crab’s leg/the fried plantain smell

replenishing replenishing

Go to your wide futures, you said

CONTEXT

different aspects of the mother-daughter relationship, showing how the mother was like the complete world to her. The mother is likened to things such as water, light, and food a mixture of necessities of life along with the nights and days in which it's lived.

FORM

praise songs - give essence of subjects and praise it using nature and experiences. Each of the first three stanzas follows the same pattern describing the mother, using a different image each time

STRUCTURE

poem doesn't have a story and it isn't a narrative, it is largely unpunctuated this suggests how warm memories can merge into one good picture, idea that it's over a longer period of time, her life.

LANGUAGE (about her mother)

words that are unusual which suggest the poet has gone beyond the traditional form and is meant to be more heartfelt than formulaic, also suggests her mother is worth more than usual and frequently used words, they are out of usual contexts and don't have one simple meaning - present that her mother is beyond simple explanations - "fathoming" "grained" "mantling" "streaming"

LANGUAGE (about food)

types are in Caribbean, linking the mother to a specific place, emphasising how the mother was a nourishing presence, also links it to all senses, idea that her mother touched all of her senses. "fish's red gill to me" "crabs leg/fried plantain smell" "flame tree's spread to me"

themes ~

gratitude

joy

praise

Harmonium

The Farrand Chapelette was gathering dust

in the shadowy porch of Marsden Church.

And was due to be bundled off to the skip.

Or was mine, for a song, if I wanted it.

Sunlight, through stained glass, which day to day

could beatify saints and raise the dead,

had aged the harmonium’s softwood case

and yellowed the fingernails of its keys.

And one of its notes had lost its tongue,

and holes were worn in both the treadles

where the organist’s feet, in grey, woollen socks

and leather-soled shoes, had pedalled and pedalled.

But its hummed harmonics still struck a chord:

for a hundred years that organ had stood

by the choristers’ stalls, where father and son,

each in their time, had opened their throats

and gilded finches – like high notes – had streamed out.

Through his own blue cloud of tobacco smog,

with smoker’s fingers and dottled thumbs,

he comes to help me cart it away.

And we carry it flat, laid on its back.

And he, being him, can’t help but say

that the next box I’ll shoulder through this nave

will bear the freight of his own dead weight.

And I, being me, then mouth in reply

some shallow or sorry phrase or word

too starved of breath to make itself heard.

Simon Armitage

CONTEXT

speaker and his father are picking up a harmonium from the church that they managed to buy cheaply, he reflects on the passing of time and how it has affected the instrument and the years of service it has given to the church, his father who his helping him take it through the church then makes a joke about his death which leaves the speaker uncomfortable

FORM

it's written again like Brothers, in free verse which present the telling of a true ordinary story

STRUCTURE

starts of explaining how he came to own the harmonium, the second is about its appearance, the penultimate is about it's past and the last is about the relationship between the owner and his father

LANGUAGE (ordinariness)

unromantic and sets the scene which contrasts spiritual use of harmonium. "organists feet, in grey wollen socks and leather sold shoes" every day description

"smokers fingers and dottled thumbs" age and ill health, death etc is ordinary despite it being uncomfortable. "bundled off" - unromantic, treated as rubbish

LANGUAGE (passing of time)

effects of time are described by the damage of the harmonium and links to the fate of the harmonium to that of his father, who jokes about death, "pedalled and pedalled" - repetition, emphasises passing of time, "fingernails of keys" - personification, the ageing process. "laid on it's back" -reference to coffin.

LANGUAGE (humorous)

contains a large number of puns, but when his father jokes about death it doesn't go down well, (tough crowd eh?)

"still struck a chord" - can play chords and still appeals, it's a pun. "for a song" - means cheap but also means he can play a song on it. "freight....weight" - fathers dark humour, internal rhyme

themes ~

speechlessness

humour

sadness

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand’ring bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

CONTEXT

how constant true love is, and how it can't be shaken, even when people grow older it remains as powerful as ever. If the love is real and genuine then it doesn't change with circumstances, he finishes saying "if this be error and upon me proved, I never writ nor no man ever loved" which means what he is saying is true.

FORM

sonnet- obviously. popular back in the day, and often used to write about love, made up of three quatrains, with a rhyming couplets at the end, regular rhyme scheme gives a sense of order and completeness.

STRUCTURE

the quatrains discuss the same idea of love being unchanging in slightly different ways, using different imagery, final couplet is the narrator's guarantee that he's telling the truth.

LANGUAGE (about sailing)

true love is shown to be reliable and it guides us in an uncertain and stormy world. "who's worth's unknown although his height be taken" - mathematically measure to the ship which guides the ship, and its worth is unknown as it saved thousands of ships before we had satnavs

LANGUAGE (about time and ageing)

when we get older we look different and perhaps not attractive but love isn't tricked by the effects of time, love isn't a mercy of time it is everlasting

"time's fool/bending sickle's compass come" - time is personified which makes the battle more dramatic time can take away beauty but not love

themes ~

devotion (HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOUUUUUUUU)

constancy

true love

Sonnet 43

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways! –

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight –

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right, –

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise;

I love thee with the passion, put to use

In my old griefs, … and with my childhood’s faith:

I love thee with the love I seemed to lose

With my lost Saints, – I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

CONTEXT

Intense love for Robert Browning, she loves him so deeply that she sees it as sacred and spiritual she counts all of the ways that she loves him, ad her love is so powerful that it will love him even after death.

FORM

sonnet - always about love, petrarchan form with eight lines (octave) followed by six lines (sestet)

STRUCTURE

the octave presents the theme of the poem, here it's comparing the poet's love and religious ideas. The setset develops the theme by comparing the intensity of her love with feelings she felt as a child, shows she loves him with emotions of an entire lifetime through the loss of innocence, through to and past death.

REPETITION

using the "I love thee" repeatedly at the start of a phrase is called anaphora, this is a rhetorical device that is used in the bible, it makes her poem seem like a prayer

RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE

her love seems to be like a religion, to her in the way that it touches all aspects of her life, giving meaning to her existence, her love is unconditional like the religious idea of faith.

themes ~

deep and lasting love

unselfish love

virtue

Brothers

Praise Song For My Mother

Harmonium

Sonnet 116

Sonnet 43