“November” A Poem by Simon Armitage

1. “November”A Poem by Simon Armitage English 10Wessam Kanes

2. Overview • Poem • Summary • Annotations • Key Literary Features • Personal Response • Literal Representation • Symbolic Representation • Tableau

3. NOVEMBER We walk to the ward from the badly parked car with your grandma taking four short steps to our two. We have brought her here to die and we know it.  You check her towel, soap and family trinkets, pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets and she sinks down into her incontinence.

4. You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive through the twilight zone, past the famous station to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol. It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles, in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness and in us John: we are almost these monsters. 

5. Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin. Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing.  Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.

6. SUMMARY • Armitage describes his and John’s experience when taking his grandmother to the ward one last time to die. • Themes: • Eventually, all of the leaves will fall off the tree. • Everyone’s end will come • Time makes us monsters • Death is inevitable. We have to enjoy life while we can

7. Annotations

10. LITERARY TERMS • Alliteration • Rhyme • Tone • Visual Imagery • Ambiguity • Enjambment • Symbolism

11. Alliteration

12. Rhyme

13. Tone - Diction Sometimes thesunspangles and we feelalive. One thing we have to get, John, out of thislife. We walk to the ward from the badlyparked car Outside we watch the evening, failing again,

14. Tone - Structure Structure 6 Stanzas (5X3) + Couplet Depressed Tone Elevated Tone Change in Tone = Change in Structure “Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.”

15. Visual Imagery

16. Visual Imagery • Effects: • Much more interesting to imagine • Aids the readers in conjuring the image the author wanted to convey

17. Ambiguity Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life. We need to enjoy everyday and gain as many good memories ‘sun spangles’ as we can. Punctuation - Death is a natural occurrence. We all have to get out of life and die someday. Purpose: Used to leave the reader brooding about which perspective they should look at things from.

18. Ambiguity You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive through the twilight zone, past the famous station to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol. Different Interpretations Shattered: -Emotionally shattered rather than physically Twilight Zone: - An old TV thriller show from the 60’s. Twilight: - The light you get when dusk is falling or dawn is rising. John is confused. He is between the dusk or dawn zone. Not knowing if what he did was right? Maybe thinking he could have prevented it in a way.

19. Enjambment We walk to the ward from the badly parked car with your grandma taking four short steps to our two. We have brought her here to die and we know it.  You check her towel, soap and family trinkets, pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets and she sinks down into her incontinence.

20. Symbolism Title: NOVEMBER • Denotation: The month of November is dominated by the season of fall. Within the fall season, the trees loose their leaves in preparation for winter. In winter the trees stop blooming and growing – ‘die’. • Connation: This is significant to how the author wrote about the grandmother who was being preparing to die.

21. Symbolism Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin. Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing.  Dusk: Dark hours of night Symbolizes  Death As time passes by, we feel the terror of death begin.

22. Symbolism It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles, in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness and in us John: we are almost these monsters. Time makes us older. Thus, transforming us into the monsters of old age. Symbolizes  Life span (Good and Bad). Causes - transformation to old age

23. Personal Response This poem is one of a kind. It advocates the brutal reality of life and makes one think about their own life. Have they lived it wisely? How productive has their life been? It also emphasizes on the fact that one day we will all go. Although, this is something that people try to avoid thinking about, the author believes that accepting it makes life easier to go about.

24. Literal Representation John and his grandmother.

25. Symbolic Representation

26. Tableau

27. Bibliography (Images) • November. Digital image. Http://pixelcurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/november_field_3.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012. • Cartoon Gravestone. Digital image. Http://www.halloweenclipart.com/halloween_clipart_images/rip_on_a_gravestone_0521-1010-2321-1007_SMU.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012. • Grandma. Digital image. Http://familyautopacks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/products_img/image-47.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.