Glasgow 5 March 1971 Essay

In the instamatic poem ‘Glasgow 5 March 1971’ Edwin Morgan tells

us about a real robbery that took place in Sauciehall Street on the 5th
of March 1971. The two young robbers push a couple into a plated
glass shop window, causing serious injuries to both of them. But the
robbers do not care, and neither do the passing people in cars, both the
robbers and drivers are fixed on their tasks ahead. We must
understand how Edwin Morgan creates shock in the reader by
analysing word choice and poetic techniques throughout the poem.

Initially, Edwin shocked me because of his use of imagery to create a

strong opening for the poem. Edwin Morgan uses word choice and
imagery to highlight how shocking and dangerous the robbery was.
The words “ragged diamond” were used to describe the shattered
glass. It made the reader imagine the uneven, sharp and splintered
glass contacting the young couple causing injuries. “Falling
backwards” suggested they had no control over the situation they
were in and makes the reader think of how bad the situation is.

Morgan continues to shock the reader with his use of imagery and
word choice to describe the injuries to the young couple. He uses
word choice and imagery to highlight how bad the injuries were.
“Bristling with fragments of glass” brings the image of the young
man’s face having a beard of glass. It represents the life changing
aspect of this attack as his face will be heavily scarred. “Spurts
arterial” represents how bad the injury on the girl is as we can
imagine the amount of blood coming out of her injury.

The author highlights how the victims were not prepared for the
incident and also how shocking the lack of emotion from the
criminals is. Edwin Morgan uses word choice and imagery to
highlight how the victims were caught off guard and the shocking
nature of the age and lack of emotion from the criminals. “Two
youths” is used to surprise the reader with how young the robbers are.
“No expression” this angers the reader as the robbers show a total
disregard and lack of compassion for the young couple. This is
shocking as the robbers are young and should at least feel something
for hurt the couple so badly.

Morgan finishes the poem by looking at the shocking idea that no one
would help the young couple.The author explores the main message
in the final section of the poem by highlighting that the two drivers
did not help. “Sharp clear night” the words sharp and clear imply that
the robbery and accident were clearly visible to the drivers, so there
was no way that they didn’t see the helpless and injured couple. The
fact that the drivers “keep their eyes on the road,” shows us that they
are not making a conscious effort to help the couple at all-the drivers
were in a perfect position where they would help but they didn’t for
reasons like not wanting to get involved with the police and/or the
robbery. This is shocking and disgraceful as both the young boy and
girl could potentially die from their injuries if they are not helped
quickly and the drivers are lazy for not helping people in need.

In conclusion, the poem is very interesting in many ways. By

analysing different techniques used by Edwin Morgan throughout the
poem, I was able to see the deeper meaning of the story. He sent a
message out that not everyone will help out and that the least
expected things can happen at anytime, e.g. The robbers were in fact
robbers and they had badly hurt a couple as well. I overall love the
poem and way it is written. I find that it keeps your attention
throughout the writing and keeps you wanting to know more which is
a really hard thing to do in a poem.