The Man Who Delivers My Paper

How does the poet strikingly convey her thoughts and feelings
about the delivery man and the newspaper? [15]
In ‘The Man Who Delivers My Paper’, the poet strikingly conveys her thoughts and feelings
about the delivery man and the newspaper through a series the use of powerful imagery and
(an original and engaging structure which drifts seamlessly from third person to first person
as we are drawn into her fevered musings of a surprisingly mundane topic. ) well-chosen
structure. She conjures up a picture in our minds of a simple An evil-spreading devilish
figure, the delivery postman who is at times tired and weary and at times haunting and
threatening as he deposits the paper which is full of a disturbing blend of leaves an
emotionless list of (both) shocking and mundane events, which have the effect of bringing the
author into a living nightmare.

With well chosen comparisons and the use of imagery use of diction, the poet transforms the
role of the ordinary postman into an ominous evil presence (demonic creature in the form of
presents the delivery man as Lucifer……that is maybe going too far) as she imagines that
“Something passes over my dreams dropping its shadow”. This almost haunting and
threatening presence interrupts the calm and peacefulness of her rest and it is reinforced upon
wakening by the contents of the paper which is full of tragic, disturbing as well as distracting
random facts.
proliferates the loss of purity (interesting language but what does it mean?).

One notable example is when she compares the newspaper as the one ‘gift he can give’. By
emphasising this is the ‘one gift’, the poet suggests that the delivery man postman is only
capable of bringing heavy (bad/negative/depressing) news, thus resulting in his portrayal as a
devil. In this metaphor, a ‘gift’, which is something positive and wished for, is related to the
negative content of the ‘news’, which the poet hopes to evade (thus one can assume that the
poet is using irony or sarcasm here). This is unreasonable from the perspective of the poet,
but it is reasonable if the delivery man, as a devil, sees it as a ‘gift. The author also correlates
the news to a “thing he made with his hands/ like a bomb”, as he sets it down. The fact that
he ‘made with his hands’ conveys the idea that the delivery man is actively and consciously
spreading the news. With a simile and comparison to ‘a bomb’, and explosive and dangerous
material, the news is illustrated as a harmful piece of material that could eliminate the
innocence within a person. Ultimately, the reason the delivery man is delivering news is for
‘clearing his conscience’. Outlining the importance of this phrase, alliteration grasps the
reader’s attention, as well as communicating the selfishness of the delivery man, who passes
on corruption to unburden his moral sense. Overall, by portraying the delivery man as a fiend,
the poet expresses her unwelcome feelings towards him.
Moreover, the poet also loathes the newspaper as the ‘devil’s’ instrument, featuring it as a
cold list of occurrences that upsets people. While describing the contents within the
newspaper, she listed, “weather, stock reports,/ the death of a stranger,/ a child tossed into the
rapids…”

Mundane items such as the weather and stock reports are juxtaposed with more shocking
events in the news, and the dispassionate and emotionless catalogue suggests that its creator
is uncaring towards human suffering. (this is good)However, the record of events bothers the
author. For example, the delivery man sets the newspaper down, “gently/ as if it were a
newborn”. Enjambment between the lines creates flow and adds pace to the reading,
demonstrating how the delivery man sets the newborn down quickly as if trying to get rid of
it. As for similising the newspaper with a newborn and describing movements of the man
with ‘gently’, the author indicates that the delivery person is perhaps afraid of waking the
child and setting off wailing, which could create a loud outcome(I think that is going too far!)
However, even with the caution of the delivery man, the poet can still feel it as ‘something
passes over my dreams/ dropping its shadow.’ With metaphor, the newspaper (or the
postman??) is reflected as a shadow looming over the poet’s sleep, suggesting how she could
arise to a waking nightmare - the newspaper(you have said this before). The poet, through
demonstrating the elements in the newspaper and its early impact upon her, exhibits her
dislike towards the news.

Lastly, (this was covered earlier on….I still don’t see anything about the change of content
and tone……first part if about the delivery and evil/haunting images written in the third
person…..the second part is the effect of the newspaper on the waking poet and is in the first
person) the heavy nature of the news is revealed by the author through descriptions of the
delivery man. The delivery man comes down the hall, walking ‘laboriously,/ as if knee-deep
in water’. Both the adjective ‘laboriously’ describes the hard work the man is putting in to
move, while knee-deep in water indicates that his walking is significantly troubled by some
form of resistance, and this could physically be the stack of news, or mentally due to the
feelings of heaviness elicited from the constituents of the news. Then, after the man delivers
the news, he goes ‘with a lighter step’. Since one piece of newspaper cannot physically make
the stack much lighter, the poet is conveying emotional lightness through the hyperbole of
‘lighter’. This suggests that even the delivery man, as the devil, can be burdened by the heavy
messages in the news. He also becomes ‘sweeter, more pure’, accentuating the wickedness
caused by the news. A metaphor is used here to describe changes in the delivery man’s soul,
demonstrating how he regains his innocence. Since losing newspapers awards the man with
morality, he could have been depraved into the devil by the news. Literary techniques such as
similes and metaphors strikingly demonstrate the effect of the news on the delivery man,
alluding to how the author is reluctant to receive it.

In conclusion, the poet has negative thoughts and feelings about the news and the delivery
man. As an inventory of events, the newspaper loads and unsettles its bearers. Meanwhile, the
carrier of the news is a selfish devil who morally corrupts others to earn his salvation.
How do you feel about the news?
How do you relate to the poet’s reaction to the daily diet of the tragic, the sensational and the
mundane.
What effect did the poem have on you?

Susan Lummis

The Man Who Delivers My Paper

In the half light, while one world
is tearing away from another,
he comes down the hall, laboriously,
as if knee-deep in water.

He leaves at my door the one

gift he can give:
the weather, stock reports,
the death of a stranger,
a child tossed into the rapids,
assassins, rumors,
rumblings in Santiago,
a woman who had one too many,
a man who missed by a hair.

He sets it down gently

as if it were a newborn
or a thing he made with his hands
like a bomb.

Something passes over my dreams

dropping its shadow.
He goes with a lighter step than before.
It’s as if he’s clearing his conscience.
With each paper he leaves
he grows sweeter, more pure.

When I open the door there it is —

indisputably mine.
I could nudge it with my foot
to another door, but what good would that do?
One way or the other
news keeps reaching me.
I could shut myself in, but my phone
would never stop ringing.
Voices would whisper their secrets,
their guilty desires.

So I take it in my hands,
unstring and read it,
my catalog of last night’s crimes.
You see? Just when you think you’ve lost
the last of your innocence,
you lose more.
General Comments about the unseen poetry
question: In general, the responses offered by candidates to both poetry and prose
made for rewarding reading. There was evidence that candidates had been well prepared for
this paper and were able to respond to their chosen text type with personal as well as a critical
engagement. Strong answers, of which there were many, were not only able to explore ‘what’
the writer conveyed, but also concentrated closely on the ‘how’, a key word in the questions.

The best answers were characterised by an ability to respond to the writer at work, seeing the
text as a constructed piece of art honed with the‘tools’ of the writer’s craft.

Most displayed an engaging level of personal connection with the text, often relating it to
their own experience of the world, animating responses in some thoughtful ways. It was
pleasing to see that all candidates, regardless of ability, used the examination as an
opportunity to show what they could do. Many impressive answers were characterised by
thoughtful consideration and good planning.

Plans need not be written out in detail on the answer booklet itself; text-marking the question
paper with underlining and brief annotation can prove equally beneficial and indeed provide a
visual reminder to candidates to address the whole text, selecting pertinent sections for
discussion in their answers.

Well-organised answers were usually evident from the very first sentence where the key
words of the question were often repeated and linked to an overview of the content and
writer’s intention in the text as a whole.

These candidates were often able, then, to comment on the structure and movement of the
text, analysing how its individual parts contributed to the impact of the whole.

Less successful answers tended simply to repeat the question and bullet points, sometimes
verbatim, or begin with a list of the many ‘ways’ (metaphor, simile, anaphora, sibilance, etc.)
the writer conveys ideas, completely disconnected from the text under discussion. These
types of introductions produced comments that could be applied to any piece of crafted
writing and shed no light on the text being examined, making it difficult for the examiner to
reward any marks here. Lists of technical terms in the introduction were often followed by a
search for these features in the text itself, often in an unorganised fashion; some, for instance,
commented on the caesura in the final stanza as an opening gambit to their response to the
poem.
More organised responses tended to begin with an overview, moving on to work through the
poem or passage in sequence and were thus better able to comment on the developing effects
of the writing on the reader. Candidates should therefore be encouraged to spend time
thinking about the text and planning their answers; this is a worthwhile investment of time in
improving their chances of success in responding to unseen texts.
Examiners’ comments on the poem: The Man Who
Delivers My Paper by Suzanne Lummis
The Man Who Delivers My Paper by Suzanne Lummis The poetry was by far the more
popular choice for candidates on this paper, all of whom found something in the poem to
engage with, both intellectually and emotionally.

The contents of the newspaper as listed in the poem provided ample scope for comment on
the shocking range of horrible events in the wider world, as well as the more
mundane.

The portrayal of the delivery man drew much engagement; the imagery used to describe him
and the effects of the news on the poet were generally well grasped. In short, candidates made
good use of the bullets to structure their responses. Those who paid close attention to the
‘How’ and ‘strikingly’ of the question were more likely to achieve at the higher levels.

Good answers began with a direct response to the question (How does the poet strikingly
convey her thoughts and feelings in this poem?), defining in a succinct overview of the
poem what those feelings are and their effect on the reader.

Candidates who could, for example, identify that the poet feels overwhelmed by the constant
barrage of bad news, that she tries to avoid its corrupting influence on her but that she
ultimately accepts that exposure to it is inevitable made a good start to their essays.

Particularly effective were answers that gave a personal response to these ideas. A brief
paragraph along these lines often set the candidate up for a fuller exploration of the poem in
their answers, maintaining a keen focus on the poet’s thoughts and feelings.

WEAK ANSWERS: What to avoid!

Less confident answers started with either an almost verbatim repetition of the question and
bullets or a list of poetic techniques that the poet was deemed to have used, including
‘language’ and ‘commas’. These types of introductions invariably lacked any connection with
the text and often led to a ‘feature spotting’ type of response.

COMMON REACTIONS/RESPONSES:

Many candidates were intrigued by the imagery of one world … tearing away from another in
the opening stanza, recognising in it the depiction of the poet’s sleep being interrupted by the
arrival of dawn. Better answers linked the image to the poem’s deeper implications,
suggesting that the poet might prefer to remain in the soothing comfort of a dream world
rather than wake to face yet another day of bad news. The word laboriously attracted much
attention and proved to be something of a discriminator in that some candidates saw it simply
as a comment on the man’s hard-working attitude to his job, whilst others who probed deeper
related it to his reluctance to be the bearer of bad news. Similarly, as if knee-deep in water
received much comment, though rather too many candidates, having successfully explored
the implication of the man’s struggle to walk as if against the resistance of a current of water,
failed then to link this image to its effect: what does this tell us about the man and his attitude
to delivering the papers? In fact, some candidates treated language analysis almost like a
mathematical puzzle to be ‘solved’ in terms of relating the literal to the metaphorical, missing
the last vital stage of assessing how the image contributes to overall meaning; this final link is
an essential step to accessing the higher bands. The list of the paper’s contents was a popular
focus, better answers noting the structural crescendo of events.

This was often followed by an examination of newborn and its contrast with bomb and gift.
Again, rather a lot of candidates explored quite competently the connotations of these words,
but stopped short of relating them to how the newspaper is presented. Reasonable responses
recognised that bombs are ‘explosive’, but better answers noted, for example, the explosive
nature of the news and its ability to ‘blow apart’ one’s happiness or complacency.

The newspaper delivery man’s lightening conscience as he delivers each paper was a concept
grasped by most candidates, though weaker answers did not always recognise the need to
interpret language, asserting that as if he’s clearing his conscience shows that as he delivers
each paper his conscience is being cleared. Some practice in finding alternative wording
when responding to language would be helpful for some candidates.

The strongest responses looked closely at symbolism in the poem, drawing a parallel between
the half light and a dark-versus-light, good-versus-evil theme, in which the delivery man was
either angelic, or demon-like.

Others commented effectively on the listed news items as depicting a world in the throes of
tearing itself apart with its crimes of inhumanity, demonstrated by the emotionless way in
which they are reported in the news.

The narrator was here portrayed as being at the centre of the dramatic dilemma of
participating in this struggle, giving in to the temptation to read about all of the heavy things
she cannot change.

The final stanza was seen by many to capture the poet’s ‘voice’ through her use of second
person direct address, drawing the reader into the poem in tones of a personal conversation.
Some related the unstringing of the newspaper back to the idea of its being a gift earlier in the
poem, demonstrating an impressive ability to form links in meaning.

ENDING:
Those candidates who ended their answer with a personal response to the poem achieved a
sense of completion in their discussion, particularly if they had begun with a personal
comment in the introduction.

Paper 2 Unseen Poetry

Written paper, 1 hour 15 minutes, 30 marks

Candidates answer two compulsory questions on one poem. Both questions carry equal
marks (15 marks each).

The questions ask candidates for a critical commentary on and appreciation of a previously
unseen poem or extract of a poem printed on the question paper. The material will be taken
from writing either originally in English or in English translation.

There are no set texts for this paper.

Candidates should spend around 20 minutes reading the questions and planning their answers
before starting to write.

All questions test all four assessment objectives. Candidates will have to demonstrate:
• their knowledge of the content of the poem – through reference to detail and use of
quotations (AO1)
• an understanding of characters, relationships, situations and/or themes (AO2)
• an understanding of the poet’s intentions and methods – response to the poet’s use of
language (AO3)
• a sensitive and informed personal response to the poem (AO4)

Assessment objectives

The assessment objectives (AOs) are:

AO1 Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (poetry,
prose and drama), supported by reference to the text.

AO2 Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond
surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.

AO3 Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to
create and shape meanings and effects.

AO4 Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.