WORLD LITERATURE SET TEXTS

And used twice to display continuation

Storyteller
she sat down
at the scoured table
in the swept kitchen
beside the dresser with its cracked delft.
And every last crumb of daylight was salted away.

OVERALL: The fact that the lines and sentence lengths increase with every line underscore the
buildup of the significance of storytelling and the whole process before it takes place. Shortness
of initial lines conveys how bluntly depressing the setting was.

No one could say the stories were useless

for as the tongue clacked 
five or forty fingers stitched
corn was grated from the husk
patchwork was pieced
or the darning was done.

Never the one to slander her shiftless.

Daily sloven or spotless no matter whether
Dishwater or tasty was her soup.
To tell the stories was her work.
It was like spinning,
gathering air to the single strongest
thread. Night in
she’d have us waiting, held
breath, for the ending we knew by heart.

And at first light

as the women stirred themselves to build the fire
as the peasant’s feet felt for clogs
as thin grey light washed over flat fields
the stories dissolved in the whorl of the ear
but they
hung themselves upside down
in the sleeping heads of the children
till they flew again
in the storyteller’s night.

The poet commences the poem with an extremely simple sentence: ‘she sat down,’ which serves to immediately
underscore the simplicity and rudimentary nature of the setting and the storyteller herself. The fact that she does
not capitalize ‘she’ depicts how seemingly insignificant she is in the grand scheme of things, and is merely an
ordinary woman. It subtly depicts the routineness of the storytelling: the lack of any sort of extravagance or
grandeur from the verb ‘sat’ shows that this was nothing out of the ordinary. The visual image of a woman ‘sitting’
at a table in a kitchen gives an illusion of someone willing to share their ideas/stories in front of a group of
listeners; the act of ‘sitting’ heralds a routine session of story-telling, putting a full-stop to all sorts of other activity.

OVERALL SIGNIFICANCE OF STORYTELLING: Seeing as lower income-groups may not have

access to books and technological advancements, storytelling serves as the only medium
through which they can gain an education, and inculcate valuable life-lessons.

Age-divide very clearly established, esp. when children can yet dream: storytelling is a shield,
while adults are held in the clutches of poverty.

FRATERNIZING FORCE: Spinning, weaving bit, 5 or 40 fingers stitched conveys number of people

ALLOWS ONE TO DREAM, ESCAPE MECHANISM: Talk about age divide, ‘hung’ denotes rush of
blood to head or nocturnal nature of stories; strongest at night.

HOW VITAL IT IS: Job, actual work for storyteller, magical realism

ENTERTAINMENT: no tech

How does the poet strikingly portray the significance of storytelling in ‘Storyteller’?

Storytelling has always proved to be a medium to transmit ideas, often between generations; it is the
way we have gained the experience of enjoying the myths and tales we love today. ‘Storyteller’ by
Scottish poet Liz Lochhead, however, presents a vastly differing view of storytelling to the audience, in
its portrayal of storytelling as something that brings people together, allows one to escape from reality,
and is, most importantly, vital to ones’ existence. The poem makes this depiction of the significance of
storytelling all the more striking and evocative through the rampant use of figurative language, stylistic
devices, and metaphors – all culminating in an immaculate magical realist piece that sheds light on a
non-mainstream narrative: the lives of poor women, at a time when the advent of technology was far in
the future.

Firstly, Lochhead conveys storytelling as an entity that serves to fraternize; it brings people together in
one place at one time to listen to a story in harmony: an overarching blanket under which the
impoverished can let go the over-exhaustion of a day and step into another realm. This is clear right
from the opening line of the poem, which establishes an image of the setting: ‘she sat down.’ The
utilization of the simple, unadorned verb ‘sat’ subtly underscores the routineness of the exercise; the
sentence provides the illusion of the narrator sitting at a table in front of a multitude of eager listeners,
putting a full-stop to any other activity. The number of people who pose as an audience is also explicitly
stated as ‘five to forty’, giving the reader a very insightful sense of the number of people who listen to
the stories, which can vary between five and even as large as forty people at times: the immense
number of people crammed into one small space, perhaps in a kitchen, strongly highlights the subpar
living conditions experienced on a daily basis, but also the staunch intent of the people to listen: they
will flock in ludicrous numbers just to revel in the spirit of storytelling, turning the undesirable image of
claustrophobia into one characterized by harmony. The idea of fraternity and unity is further reinforced
through the poet’s rich metaphorical comparisons of the flow of the story to the ‘spinning’ of a thread,
as seen in stanzas 2 and 3. The fact that the narrator ‘spins’ her tales to form the ‘single
 strongest/thread’ is a profusion of poetic devices: the enjambment of the word ‘strongest’ lays an
indubitable emphasis to it, a testament to perhaps the wilfulness and collective power possessed by
each member of the listening audience when accrued together: they stand united and are bound by a
single ‘thread’: a thread of their overarching hardships and predicaments of daily life. The sibilance
utilized further harmonizes the flow of the poem to the reader, giving rise to a rhythmic effect. These
sounds, when read aloud, significantly contribute to both the flow of the poem – and the story being
hypothetically told in the poem – keeping both the poetic and real audience drawn in.
Secondly, Lochhead brilliantly

TRIBULATION
MAGICAL REALISM: enchants readers despite harsh reality: magical element in whorl of ear.
Inclusion of fictional, mythical and fantastic elements into a realist piece
Fricative F sounds are strong at the end of the
poem: first, fire, feet felt, flat fields. F is a soft sound suiting the washed-out
feel of this tepid grey morning.

SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND

Men of England, wherefore plough

For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?

Wherefore feed and clothe and save

From the cradle to the grave
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?

Wherefore, Bees of England, forge

Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?

Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,

Shelter, food, love’s gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?

The seed ye sow, another reaps;

The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.

Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:

Find wealth—let no imposter heap:
Weave robes—let not the idle wear:
Forge arms—in your defence to bear.

Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—

In hall ye deck another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see. Volta used here shifts focus to
only them.
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.

With plough and spade and hoe and loom

Trace your grave and build your tomb
And weave your winding-sheet—till fair
England be your Sepulchre.

Main themes/bullets:
 Metaphors and symbolism: of bees and implicit references to rich lifestyles;
 Structural features: rhetorical qs creates emotion; hyphens to create pauses;
antithetical parallelism used in stanza 6 w/ lines separated by pauses to convey
juxtaposing thoughts
 Imagery: brutal visual and kinaesthetic imagery to magnify the oppression

How does Percy Shelley powerfully convey oppression of serfs?

Firstly, Shelley uses metaphors and symbolism to efficaciously shed light on and portray the
grave oppression of those languishing at the bottom of the Medieval Feudal hierarchy: the
Serfs. The bee metaphor is the most prominent among these; the frequent comparisons to
‘drones,’ who are the undisputed heads, or leaders at the very top of the hierarchy, implicitly
references the fact that the overlords above take advantage of those below, and are quite
‘ungrateful,’ showing no gratitude or even acknowledgement of serfs. In stanza 3, overlords are
‘stingless,’ perhaps intrinsically elucidating the fact that these people have already ‘stung’ and
caused immense pain to the lower classes, and have no real authority or competence. Thus,
through this comparison, Shelley tries to evoke a sense of defiance in the serfs, conveying that
those in power are not capable enough, and they are being oppressed like the worker bees in
the beehive, in order for the despotic, tyrannical ‘drones’ to benefit. They are explicitly referred
to as ‘Bees of England,’ where the capitalization of ‘B’ is especially powerful, as Shelley may
possibly be suggesting that those people at the lowest levels of this oppressive, regressive
system need more significance and respect in society. This also inherently depicts their reliance
on serfs; without their pain and tribulations, they cannot survive, giving them a very diabolical
effect; they are akin to vampires – who ‘suck on the blood’ of those below – another metaphor
so brilliantly utilized to buttress the fact that the lieges use them to the fullest, giving them
nothing to sustain themselves, instead profiting off their misery. This hence evokes a sense of
pity and empathy in the reader; the use of metaphors, and comparisons to bees makes it more
relatable and amplifies its impact to the maximum. Distinct income gap displayed through these
metaphors conveys Marxist undertones: the reader realizes that Shelley calls for equality,
noting the plight of the poor.
CALLS FOR A SUBVERSION OF THE OVERLORDS AND FEUDAL HIERARCHAL STRUCTURE; A
DEFENESTRATION OF THEIR AUTHORITY AND MIGHT

You should be here, Nature has need of you.

She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,
the flowers are mute, and the birds are few
in a sky slowing like a dying clock.
All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea
have sunk; he is entombed in the waste
we dump. Triton’s notes struggle to be free,
his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed,
and Neptune lies helpless as beached as a whale,
while insatiate man moves in for the kill.
Poetry and piety have begun to fail,
As Nature’s mighty heart is lying still.
O see the wound widening in the sky,
God is labouring to utter his last cry.

“apposite, demurs, acuity”

Main points:
 Historical contexts and references
 Visual imagery (‘entombed’, etc)
 Structural features
 Pathos and feelings of guilt as a medium of relay; man v/s. nature conflict?
Lament
For the green turtle with her pulsing burden,
in search of the breeding ground.
For her eggs laid in their nest of sickness.
 
For the cormorant in his funeral silk,
the veil of iridescence on the sand,
the shadow on the sea.
 
For the ocean’s lap with its mortal stain.
For Ahmed at the closed border.
For the soldier with his uniform of fire.
 
For the gunsmith and the armourer,
the boy fusilier who joined for the company,
the farmer’s sons, in it for the music.
 
For the hook-beaked turtles,
the dugong and the dolphin,
the whale struck dumb by the missile’s thunder.
 
For the tern, the gull and the restless wader,
the long migrations and the slow dying,
the veiled sun and the stink of anger.
 
For the burnt earth and the sun put out,
the scalded ocean and the blazing well.
For vengeance, and the ashes of language.

Main points:
 Use of visual imagery
 ‘for’ and other diction choices made
 Portrayal of war as something that wrecks earth and people: human dimension explored
The Flower-Fed Buffaloes
The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prairie flowers lie low:—
The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass
Is swept away by the wheat,
Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by
In the spring that still is sweet.
But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
Left us, long ago.
They gore no more, they bellow no more,
They trundle around the hills no more:—
With the Blackfeet, lying low,
With the Pawnees, lying low,
Lying low.

The Voice  (p. 144)

BY THOMAS HARDY

Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me,

Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who was all to me,
But as at first, when our day was fair.

Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then,

Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then,
Even to the original air-blue gown!

Or is it only the breeze, in its listlessness

Travelling across the wet mead to me here,
You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?

Thus I; faltering forward,

Leaves around me falling,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward,
And the woman calling.

MAIN POINTS

 Age differences

Carpet Weavers, Morocco
by Carol Rumens

The children are at the loom of another world.        

Their braids are oiled and black, their dresses bright.
Their assorted heights would make a melodious chime.
 
They watch their flickering knots like television.
As the garden of Islam grows, the bench will be raised.
Then they will lace the dark-rose veins of the tree-tops.
 
The carpet will travel in the merchant’s truck.
It will be spread by the servants of the mosque.- 
Deep and soft, it will give when heaped with prayer.
 
The children are hard at work in the school of days.
From their fingers the colours of all-that-will-be fly
and freeze into the frame of all-that-was.

Idea of parochialism: her focus on one particular area and case-study of children

MAIN POINTS:
 Irony
 Visual imagery (dark-rose veins evokes danger and health risk posed) + metaphors
 Structural features (the, their, their and its repetitive effects; full stops serves to depict
bluntness of their lives and how bleak they are)
 Cultural differences = pathos + parochialism; her attention to detail gives insight into
social aspects that contribute to plight of children such as exploitation

I ne’er was struck before that hour 

   With love so sudden and so sweet

Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower 

   And stole my heart away complete 

My face turned pale as deadly pale

   My legs refused to walk away

And when she looked, what could I ail

   My life and all seemed turned to clay 

And then my blood rushed to my face 

   And took my eyesight quite away

The trees and bushes round the place 

   Seemed midnight at noonday

I could not see a single thing

   Words from my eyes did start

They spoke as chords do from the string

   And blood burnt round my heart

Are flowers the winter’s choice

   Is love’s bed always snow

She seemed to hear my silent voice

   Not love's appeals to know

I never saw so sweet a face 

   As that I stood before

My heart has left its dwelling-place 

   And can return no more -