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A2 English Unit 4 Poetry – Carol Ann Duffy. Oslo. Oslo. The title is the name of a real place. It is the subject of, but not named in the poem. Four quatrains and a couplet to end. Odd numbered lines rhyme or half rhyme. Lines of almost equal length create a regular rhythm. Oslo.
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Oslo • The title is the name of a real place. • It is the subject of, but not named in the poem. • Four quatrains and a couplet to end. • Odd numbered lines rhyme or half rhyme. • Lines of almost equal length create a regular rhythm.
Oslo • Speaks directly to the reader. • Starts as instructions on what to do in a strange town. • Town personified as revealing itself. • Your own town could never do that because you have grown up learning it gradually.
Oslo • Being a foreigner, not speaking the language turns a person into a baby again, innocent. • Cliché- what can’t speak can’t lie? • Strangers, foreigners are seen as invisible – why?
Oslo • Suggesting some bad behaviour. Getting up to mischief in a new place where no-one knows you. • Innocent baby or grown up & naughty?
Oslo • Enjambment from second to third stanza. • Time passes, going from planning to go there to actually going through the door. • Brief phrases, indicating the speed at which events take place. • Ready to gamble.
Oslo • The writer implies this is the time for naïve tourists rather than “real” gamblers. • How are they described? • Repetition of bet suggests compulsive nature of activity.
Oslo • Fourth stanza starts with a cliché- win some/lose some. • Comparing gambling to life in general? • Hasn’t caught the gambling bug as line one suggests writer is bored. • Child like – what next?
Oslo • Hotel seen as home whilst in this foreign town. • With only a numbered key, impersonal – no winnings. • Writer appears to know Oslo quite well. • Norwegian wood = sly reference to Beatles song – common referent in Duffy’s work.
Oslo • Last line of stanza – • For now, you’re lucky – • Why? • Moves onto last stanza – couplet – implies you may have lost money at tables but somebody loves you.
Oslo • Very complex & full last two lines. • Based on more clichés- • Lucky at cards/unlucky in love, or vice versa • Wishing on a star • Choose a star with lover and agree both will look to it.
Oslo • “Sieve” – suggests selecting one from many. • Several incomplete phrases or sayings throughout poem. • How much of what is here follows Duffy’s frequent use of conversational style? • Where does she use figurative language?
Oslo • What is the general mood of the poem? • How did you come to these conclusion? • What can you cite from the text to support your views?