Edwin Morgan Good Friday

Edwin Morgan Poems

Good Friday

>Immediacy expressive verbs- "flops" "lurches"  creates immediacy feels real as if it is unfolding in front of us

> Realism "Good Friday" - date "Three o'clock" - time "into the sun"- weather "along Bath Street?" - place a realistic opening makes the whole poem seem real

>Present tense "the bus lurches" makes the poem seem immediate and engaging

> Scottish dialect "aye" "ye"  "wee" gives information about the man working class background sets the scene (Glasgow) brings the character to life, realistic

>Rhyme "into the sun for his Easter eggs  on very nearly steady legs" couplet the only rhyme in the poem tells us the state of the man (drunk, hardly able to control himself) ends the poem- punch line

> Line Layout "on very/ nearly/ steady/ legs" looks like the steps which the man is walking down reminds us he is drunk- not in control of his body or his circumstances

> Undermining " nearly steady" the man is not balancing well but is not falling over 

> Word Choice "violently" "lunges" "swings" present tense, expressive verbs creates movement (immediacy, realism) paints a picture for us

> Repetition "ye understand" "see" "mean" working man wants to be understood he wants to communicate he wants to be taken seriously- drink gives him the confidence

> Being ungrammatical "rose fae the dead" makes the man seem real tells us where he is from tells us his social class no knowledge of grammar - no knowledge of meaning of Easter ( working class man with no time to think about these things because of his family and work)

>Accent "nae" where the poem is set where the man is from language typically used by the lower class

> Bible references"three o'clock" "whether Christ was- crucified or was he- rose fae the dead like" links to title "Good Friday" and Easter theme three o'clock- the hour Jesus died, when the sun came out after his suffering

> Dashes"to be celebrating - well, no"  "whether Christ was- crucified or was he- rose fae the dead like" pause or breaks - hesitation maybe because of drink maybe because he's thinking about what he is saying - wants to sound more intelligent

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