Hello
Good work today. It's essential to look at your own work and others' critically thinking about how you can improve, extend and develop responses.
Context is significant with this poem so ensure you link your language analysis to the context.
Leave your homework paragraphs in the comments box. Use the AOs to self-assess. Are you hitting them all?
Let me know if you have any problems.
Best wishes,
Ms
Good work today. It's essential to look at your own work and others' critically thinking about how you can improve, extend and develop responses.
Context is significant with this poem so ensure you link your language analysis to the context.
Leave your homework paragraphs in the comments box. Use the AOs to self-assess. Are you hitting them all?
Let me know if you have any problems.
Best wishes,
Ms
National Trust Essay
ReplyDeleteHarrison uses a sophisticated lexicon and a variation in sentence structure to create a sense of ambivalence and collusion. ‘Bottomless pits. There’s one in Castleton and stout upholders of our law and order one day thought its depth worth wagering on.’ This implies how there is a never ending struggle between the upper and lower class, which is achieved by the use of the polysemic phrase ‘bottomless pits’. This also suggests how we are not free in a capitalist society and that there is no hope for the proletariats. Furthermore, the caesura creates imagery of the bottomless pits that have just been dug into the ground; maybe it connotes the trenches in the First World War and how capitalism hides the fact we are at war. ‘There’s one in Castleton’ implies that the narrator assumes that the reader knows the context of this poem. This is also uses colloquialism which suggests that maybe the narrator is trying to converse with the reader. ‘Thought its depth worth wagering on’ portrays the bourgeoisie as being disrespectful, careless and immoral towards our country’s democracy. ‘Worth wagering on’ emphasises the on-going desire to make a profit. This is linked to how capitalism encourages the public to have the need to progress with how they are worth. It also relates to the Marxist theory of how the proletariats are not seen as human beings, rather they are seen as part of manual labour. ‘One day thought’ suggests that the narrator is mocking the government’s decision-making and shows how many services are at their disposal. Also, it contrasts with the phrase ‘our law and order’ by suggesting that these individuals were only picked according to their socio economic circumstance and as a result, they are the ones in power, not the proletariats. Furthermore, the fact that ‘our law order’ are presented as ‘stout’ emphasises on how they are gluttonous for power and how they exploiting the masses by consuming more food than they should. It also relates to how in the 1970s, miners and trade unions revolted against the government in order to reduce the gap between the classes.
Lots of good stuff here, Emily; well done (and well ahead of schedule).
ReplyDeleteThe dumb go down in history and disappear/ and not one gentleman's been brought to book;
ReplyDeleteHarrison isolates this couplet emphasising its significance in capturing one of the crucial messages of the poem and reiterating the ideas subtly portrayed in the polysemous title. At first the title 'National Trust' creates the expectation of a poem exploring Britain's national pride or the communal and charitable protection of our country. We soon realise however, that Harrison is in fact denouncing the middle class members of society usually associated with the National Trust organisation and that the poem ironically examines the lack of trust we are able to place in the educated classes. Harrison's tone appears sceptical as he notes "not one gentleman's been brought to book" addressing how we are reliant on "gentlemen", of the upper classes and the "stout upholders" within our hierarchal society, to record our history. Harrison boldly suggests that we cannot place confidence in the middle classes as they fail to record truthfully the sufferings and exploitations of the lower classes in a capitalist society. Equally, Harrison challenges the fact that "gentlemen" never face the repercussions of their actions and are never "brought to book". Harrison's use of a literary semantic field captures themes of the importance of language and literacy in society as well as the word "book" acting as an example of metonymy, representing law and order as a whole.
Harrison creates repeated imagery as he describes how "the dumb go down in history and disappear" just as the convict who was winched down into a bottomless pit. The use of the word "dumb" creates further links as the convict was drawn back up "flayed, grey, mad, dumb." almost insinuating that it is as a result of the careless exploitation of the lower classes by the middle classes that the proletariat is rendered "dumb", muted, "tongueless" and reified by the capitalist systems. In this way Harrison is successfully uncovering the fraudulent mistreatment in society.
After having introduced the poem with the short and nevertheless effective phrase ‘Bottomless Pits’, Harrison juxtaposes this with a much longer sentence: ‘…and stout upholders of our law and order/one day thought its depth worth wagering on/and borrowed a convict hush-hush from his warder/and winched him down; and back, flayed, grey, mad, dumb.’ Initially, the corrupt and unjust exploitation, a prominent feature of the capitalist era, provokes a shocked reaction from the reader. Alternatively, this could be seen as Harrison’s way of suggesting that we should look at people such as ‘the convict’, most likely in prison for stealing some basic food perhaps in the winter of discontent in 1978, or at a time of peak unemployment such as in 1986, and others to gain a real insight into all aspects of history.
ReplyDeleteWhen read out loud, as intended by Harrison, the reader is forced to place emphasis upon the words ‘hush-hush’; whereby the repeated sibilance has a harsh effect, reflecting the cruel life of the proletariat, in addition to a hypnotic/quietening effect, reflecting the insignificance of their political voices in society: they are quietened and disregarded. Furthermore, the connotations of this phrase contrast with the mechanical and jerky word ‘winched’, hereby waking the readers up to reality. Putting ‘him’ after this word reifies the convict, making him seem merely an object to be used like any other for the bourgeoisie’s own interest or advantage. After the word ‘down’, Harrison places a semi-colon, creating a pause before the next word(s), perhaps emphasising the change that the convict goes through.
Moreover, the readers are likely to feel contempt for the upper class who have ‘borrowed’ the convict: we expect that in ‘borrowing’ something, it will be returned in the same condition, but here, it is clearly not. One can easily see the moral flippancy here - a seemingly innocent action is transformed to be a morally evil and unjust action. We are informed that the convict comes back ‘flayed, grey, mad, dumb’, perhaps a reflection of the miner’s life and the industrial revolution, a shocking change for many. Additionally, the commas which separate these qualities draw them out, in contrast to the long sentence with polysyndeton. In particular, the word ‘flayed’ is polysemic, the literal meaning being stripped of skin, but it could also imply that the convict has no dignity left – his morals and all his wealth have been stripped of him.
Overall, through this sentence, Harrison successfully portrays the unjust and cruel life of the proletariat, defined by him as 'the dumb who go down in history and disappear.'
Harrison demonstrates the social class divide through the use of moral flippancy from the bourgeoisie in the line ‘Not even a good flogging made him holler!’. In this line the upper-middle class ‘gentlemen’ show an utter disregard towards the convicts feelings as they further ‘flog’ him after an already distressful attack. This complete omission of tact leaves the reader feeling empathetic towards the convict and resentful towards the bourgeoisie which enforces the idea of class divide. The poet ironically uses the vernacular of the working class, specifically in a 1970s Britain, through words such as ‘flogging‘ and ‘holler‘. Here, the word ‘flog‘ could be seen as being polysemous as it can express both beating one violently or selling an item illegally. This second and alternative meaning perceived through a Marxist lens reinforces the concept of working class reification as the word ‘flog’ insinuates the convict is an inanimate object that can be ‘borrowed’ and sold on illegally. Historically this could be reflective of the government’s attempts to weaken the powerful trade union which infamously triggered the ‘U-turn’ on the government’s economics policy in conjunction with the crippling Miner’s strikes of 1972 and 1974 which subsequently led to ‘the winter of discontent’. Additionally the use of the word ‘holler’ exposes an element of almost sadistic violence, these men find humor in the fact the convict did not cry out in pain. Structurally, Harrison has chosen to separate this line from the rest of the poem, this could possibly be seen as an attempt to shift perspective from the voice of the narrator to that of the ‘gentlemen’ which altogether changes the tone of the sentence making it more malicious and vindictive. Alternatively the isolation of the sentence could be seen as an attempt to preserve the nuance of the residing words. Joining this line to another could potentially provide it with a mono-dimensional meaning.
ReplyDelete“And borrowed a convict hush-hush from his warder
ReplyDeleteand winched him down; and back, flayed, grey, mad, dumb”
Harrisons description of the convict as “flayed, grey, mad, dumb” later connects to his statement that “the dumb go down in history and disappear”. By connecting these two, he is showing that the silence of the oppressed is not voluntary, but forced by the upper class and later forgotten, as evidenced that he had to dredge up this relatively unknown, horrific act to which no one was held accountable or even recognised for it (even today, there are no online records of it actually happening – this adds a further poignancy to the poem, even as it shows that this has happened the powers that be refuse to admit it, something easily believable in the disliked government of the late seventies and early eighties). By finishing the verse with “and not one gentleman’s been brought to book”, he is clearly showing who is and still are accountable for this type of censorship – the bourgeoisie, who control both the laws and the punishments to violators, and look after their own. Again, this links back to the capitalist tory government, who were seen by the working-class like Harrison to be protecting their own interests. The actual experience of the convict is reduced to a single line – “and winched him down; and back, flayed, grey, mad, dumb” – but it is probably the most powerful line in the poem. The semicolon gives a slight pause, like the moment before his descent, and then goes on haltingly, thanks to the commas, like being winched down and back up in stages. The asyndeton gives it a listlike quality, which would seem uncaring but for the words themselves – instead of an emotionless, factual “hurt”, he uses “flayed”, with its connotations of torture, and the order of the words goes from physical to mental damage, starting with the least horrific thing done (torture) to the most (silencing) – therefore making sure he will be one to “disappear”
Harrison makes a point at the end of the poem of using archaic language in the phrase “ Mes den hep tavas a-gollas y dyr”. Using this language reveals the class divisions that occurred during the 1970s as the working class only seem to have a voice in a dead language despite the context of the poem being fairly modern. This means that they can’t speak out about the ways they are being treated by the “stout upholders of our law” essentially showing that they can’t escape their role in society as they are “tongueless”. This can be seen as a Marxist view as it shows that our lives are controlled by an economic superstructure, in other words our lives are dictated from our social and economic background. I think by translating the phrase Harrison is able to give a voice to the tongueless man and stand up against the upper class through his poem. The fact that this phrase comes at the end of the poem is structurally significant because Harrison is giving the last word to the working class who seemingly have no voice, but by putting this at the end the voice of the working class is the lasting phrase which sticks in the readers mind. The archaic language could also be showing that the working class do have intellect, perhaps even more so that than the “stout upholders” who are only motivated by money and taking advantage of the high position in society they possess. The view that the upper class abuse their power in an unintelligent way can be seen thought out the poem such as the way they the so called gentleman force a convict down a mine just out of curiosity. Harrison has put this line by itself which has several affects; it makes his sonnet fragmented which is representative of society at the time due to the division of the government and the workers. During the 1970s there were many strikes by workers in order to gain higher wages so they could survive but these were rejected by Thatcher’s government, this caused much tension and animosity. Another effect of the line being by itself is the way it isolates the working class from the rest of the poem and society showing how hard it is for them to climb up the social ladder due to their social position and being “tongueless”.
ReplyDeleteHarrison gives the ''convict'' a anonymous identity as he remain's nameless throughout the poem. The ''convict'' can also be presented through the 'gentleman's' point of view as he is treated and labelled as a worthless 'convict'. This demonstrates the division between the two social classes. ''Borrowed'' presents the convicts lack of value in society. This also presents the discrimination of the lower working class and difference in power between the two classes, which is used to emphasis the corrupt 1970's/80's society. ''Winched him down; and black, flayed, grey, mad, dumb'', this powerful sentence highlights the harsh reality of the convicts brutal experience. The commas are used to separate the words form one another, this gives the words a much more deeper, and effective meaning as the words are viewed separately and therefore focused on individually. ''Winched'' makes the readers see the convict as if they are apart of a machine. This mechanical reference connects with Harrison's use of a ''borrowed'' convict, as we now know the brutal reason for why the convict was ''borrowed''. This presents the lower working class's lack of power in a capitalist society. The asyndenton gives a list like quality as it reflects the minor's never-ending experience. Harrison's use of brutal words such as ''flayed'', meaning to peel/ strip the skin of a body. This can also imply that his wealth and life is being striped off him. This is used to highlight the horrific torture the convict is experiencing as it presents discomfort, struggle and unbearable pain which creates an emotional scene for the reader, as it creates disturbing imagery. This overall brutally undercuts our idea of the 'National Trust'.
ReplyDeleteA.S
"stout upholders of our law and order"
ReplyDeletewe assume this group is true to its representation;they have been given a responsibility over those below them. However this is contradictory as th expectation of honour and noble authority is seemingly absent later on in the poem. we learn of ulterior motives and their exploitative nature which is apparent when a convict is "borrowed" and later beaten. this high society is using their power and trust for the wrong means. harrison conveys that this high society have the capability to do certain things and get away with it because of their high social standing. their careless and corrupt nature is elaborated through the nonchalence of "borrowing" an individual which implicate the likes of an inanimate object. harrison does not elaborate on the convicts identity perhaps this is so our own views can determine whether this acceptable. This extract emphasises marxist theory that the bourgeoisie society will exploit the working class by any means and especially for their own gain.
Mariah.s