V1) Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and
Paul ambled across the threadbare field to the
bus stop
saddled- negative term
suggesting that he was
lumbered with his little
brother completely
against his will.
Metaphor for a saddle
over a horse. Shows the
little brother to be a
burden.
ambled- suggests
they are more grown
up and mature than
their younger brother
threadbare- means worn out and
exposed which could sybolise the brothers
relationship as they're getting on each
others nerves.
talking over Sheffields Wednesdays chances in the Cup while you
skipped beside us in your ridiculous tank-top spouting six year old views
on Rotherham United.
Sheffield Wednesday are obviously better than Rotherham United by
a lot as the older brothers seem to scoff and the younger brothers
stupidness for liking the bad team.
skipped- verb shows age difference compared to ambled,
shows different in maturity levels and also supports the
worn out relationship point.
ridiculous- shows that he's getting annoyed with his
younger brother and his embarrassed to be seen out
with him dressed so stupidly and whilst he is talking
nonsense about bad teams.
sibilance of spouting six- harsh, aggressive, abrasive sound that
could reflect Andrews opinion of his brother at the time and the
relationship between the brothers.
V2) Suddenly you froze, said you hadn't any bus fare. I sighed, said
you should go and ask Mum and while you windmilled home i looked
at Paul.
windmilled- childish terminology. creates an
image of windmills and shows the child o be
running whilst swinging his arms around
like a windmill.
His smile like mine, said i was nine and
he was ten and we must stroll the town,
doing what grown-ups do.
contrast between ages and grown ups- shows how they thought
themselves to be adults and mature when they really weren't.
Andrew admits his mistake by poking fun at himself.
stroll vs windmilled- use of verbs to show age difference. Also verbs used to
describe younger brother show his keenness to spend time with his older brothers
but also shows his excitement at life.
V3) As a bus crested the hill we chased the Olympic
Gold. Looking back i saw you sprint towards the gate,
your hand holding out what must have been a coin.
emotive phrase- his keenness is shown by him
running to keep up and spend time with his
older siblings which makes us feel more
sympathy for him when he misses the bus and
holds out the coin.
chased the Olympic Gold- olympics is the
biggest achievement for athletes so this
could reflect that for the older brothers this
is their biggest achievement.
olympic gold- symbolise the physical maturity f the older brothers
compared to their younger brother.
looking back- could also
mean looking back at the
past and this situation
as adults
I ran on, unable to close the
distance i'd set in motion
punctuation separates the
words which could reflect
the increasing distance set
in motion
unable to close- suggest that this
incident led to a flaw in the brother
relationship which has never recovered
and this could mean that this poem is
an apology to the younger brother.
Background-
poem is autobiographical-
so about an event in
Andrew Forsters life
written in free verse so it
doesn't follow any patterns of
meter, rhyme or rhythm so it
has more of a conversational
tone to it. Links to the use of
childish language and this
reflects a childlike situation and
makes the poem seem more
authentic.