Flag - John Agard

Attachments:

• Belfast Confetti - Ciaran Carson
• next to of course god america i - E.E.Cummings
• Poppies - Jane Weir
• Mametz Wood - Owen Sheers
• Futility - Wilfred Owen
• The Yellow Palm - Robert Minhinnick
• Extract from Out of the Blue - Simon Armitage

1. Subject and Themes
   1. The power of nationalism
   2. How national symbols bind people together
      1. And force them apart
   3. The difference between literal and symbolic
      1. Flag
         1. Does not represent anything real
            1. 'it's just a piece of cloth'
            2. But holds power because it stands for something more
2. Form and structure
   1. Five stanzas
      1. Three lines each
         1. Middle line of each stanza is shorter
            1. Mimics the shape of an old medieval flag
         2. Like three lines on flags today
      2. The first and third lines of the first three stanzas rhyme
         1. Suggests a bond between two voices in the poem
      3. Final stanza ends on a rhyming couplet
         1. A pair of lines of poetry that rhyme and have the same length and metric pattern
   2. Like a conversation
      1. Voice of youth and voice of wisdom
         1. Interrogative, naïve questioning compared to wiser older answers
3. Title
   1. Makes you think of patriotism
   2. Suggest the poem is about power and countries
      1. Possibly war
4. Language
   1. Imagery
      1. 'that brings a nation to it's knees'
         1. Religious imagery
            1. Suggests praying to or worshiping flag
      2. War references
         1. Contrast to imagery about the movement of the flag
            1. 'fluttering in a breeze'
               1. Like a butterfly
               2. Non threatening images
         2. 'tent'
            1. war / military / encampment
         3. 'blood you bleed'
            1. Implies lives will be lost'
            2. Alliteration
               1. Draws attention
   2. Ending
      1. 'blind your conscience to the end'
         1. Ambiguous
            1. 'end'
               1. Death
               2. War
               3. Consequences
            2. More than one meaning
5. Comparison
   1. At The Border, 1979
      1. Also about nations and nationalism
      2. Land holds power like flag
         1. Treated like it's something more
   2. Poppies
      1. Explores the power of symbolisim
6. Poetic Techniques
   1. Repetition
      1. 'Its just a piece of cloth'
         1. Implies significance even though it says overwise
            1. Metaphorically - stands for much more
            2. Literally - a piece of cloth
   2. Questions
      1. 'What's that fluttering in the breeze'
         1. Present tense
            1. Question will always be there
      2. Last stanza question changes from what to how