Good Friday by Edwin Morgan -Analysis-

Good Friday by Edwin Morgan -Analysis-

1. Expressive verbs

   • "Flops" "Lurches"
   • Creates immediacy
   • Feels real - as if its unfolding infront of us

2. Undermining

   • "very nearly steady"
   • the man isnt balancing well but isnt falling over

3. Realism

   • A realistic opening makes the whole poem seem real
   • "Good Friday" -DATE
   • "3 o' clock" -TIME
   • "Bath Street" - PLACE
   • "Sun" -WEATHER

4. Word choice

   • "Violently" "Lunges" "Swings"
   • -present tense -expressive verbs
   • Creates movement (immediancy/realism)
   • Paints a picture for us

5. Present tense

   • "The bus lurches"
   • Makes the poem seem immediate and engaging

6. Repitition

   • "Ye understand" "see" "mean"
   • The working man wants to be understood
   • He wants to communicate
   • He wants to be taken seriously
     • The drink gives him the confidence to

7. Scottish dialect

   • "Aye" "Wee" "Ye"
   • Gives information about the man
     • Glaswegian + working class background
   • Sets the scene in Glasgow
   • Brings the character to life/ realistic

8. Being ungrammatical

   • "Rose fae the dead"
   • Makes the man seem real
   • tells us where he is from
   • Tells us his social
   • No knowledge of grammar -No knowledge of Easter meaning
     • (Working class man with no time to think about these things because of family and work)

9. Line Layout

   • "Into the sun for his easter eggs,on very              nearly                          steady                                      legs"
   • Looks like the steps that the man is walking down
   • Reminds us that he is drunk and not in control of his body or his circumstances

10. Rhyme

    • "Into the sun for his easter eggs on very nearly steady legs"
    • Couplet
    • Only rhyme in the poem
    • Tells us the state of the man --(drunk, hardly able to control itself)
    • ends the poem - Punchline

11. Accent

    • "Nae"
    • Where the poem is set
    • Where the man is from
    • Language typically used by lower and working class

12. Bible references

    • "3 o' clock" "Whether christ was -crucified or was he- rose fae the dead like?"
    • Links to title 'Good Friday' and Easter theme
    • 3 o' clock was the hour jesus died when the sun came out after his suffering

13. Dashes

    • pauses and breaks
      • could be pausing in thought
        • (Wanting to sound more intelligent-desire to comunicate-)
      • or because of drink