Shooting Stars Carol Anne Duffy

1. Shooting Stars Carol Anne Duffy

2. We are learning to: • Identify and annotate the use of poetic techniques. • To be a successful learner: • I must be able to identify poetic techniques within Shooting Stars.

3. Group Analysis – 12 minutes • You are going to be given some stanzas to focus on. • In your groups, using the help-sheet provided, highlight any aspects of: • Any techniques used: similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, sentence structure etc • Any images that are created • How characters are described • How you feel about the content of this stanza

4. "Shooting Stars"

5. Stanza 1 • After I no longer speak they break our fingersto salvage my wedding ring. Rebecca Rachel RuthAaron Emmanuel David, stars on all our browsBeneath the gaze of men with guns. Mourn for our daughters,

7. Stanza 2 • upright as statues, brave. You would not look at me.You waited for the bullet. Fell. I say, Remember.Remember those appalling days which make the worldforever bad. One saw I was alive. Loosened

9. Stanza 3 • his belt. My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear.Between the gap of corpses I could see a child.The soldiers laughed. Only a matter of days separatethis from acts of torture now. They shot her in the eye.

10. his belt. My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear. Between the gap of corpses I could see a child. The soldiers laughed. Only a matter of days separate this from acts of torture now. They shot her in the eye. This woman’s observation that ‘Only a matter of days separate/ this from acts of torture now’ suggests both eyewitness involvement at this time –‘this’ and ‘now’ reinforce the sense of immediacy – and an awareness that memory is very short in historical terms.

11. Stanza 4 • How would you prepare to die, on a perfect April eveningwith young men gossiping and smoking by the graves?My bare feet felt the earth and urine trickleddown my legs. I heard the click. Not yet. A trick.

13. Stanza 5 • After immense suffering someone takes tea on the lawn.After the terrible moans a boy washes his uniform.After the history lesson children run to their toys the worldturns in its sleep the spades shovel soil Sara Ezra…

15. Stanza 6 • Sister, if seas part us, do you not consider me?Tell them I sang the ancient psalms at duskinside the wire and strong men wept. Turn theeunto me with mercy, for I am desolate and lost.

17. We are learning to: • Identify the use of “theme” within Shooting Stars and provide evidence to justify our opinions.

18. Theme • Remember: a theme within a text is an idea that pervades a text.

19. Task • In your groups, quickly note down what you believe are important themes within “Shooting Stars.” • Try to provide an explanation for your “themes.” • 3minutes

20. Feedback

21. Theme Analysis • Your group will be given a theme that is present within the poem. • In your groups, you are going to complete the following table.

22. Theme of “…………” (7 mins)

23. Feedback

24. Theme of Religion • The theme of religion is integral to the poem. • The poem considers the tensions between Christianity and Judaism.

25. Theme of Persecution • Jews were probably the most persecuted race in modern history: hence, poems like this are vital. • Sometimes history disappears through textbooks - as good as history teachers are – and it is left to art to bring history to life. • The theme of persecution is contributed to by Duffy’s use of pronouns.

26. In the poem, there is a real sense of isolation. • Duffy repeatedly uses the pronoun “I” to remind the reader that she stands alone. • (She uses “I” at least once per stanza; bar stanza 5). • However, she is also emblematic of her race. • The soldiers – and perhaps the reader – are referred to as “You”.

27. “You would not look at me”. • “You waited for the bullet”. • This use of the pronouns firmly separates speakerand soldier.

28. Theme of History • Idea of “remembrance”. Remembering war heroes – stereotypical idea of soldiers. • Can these women be classified as war heroes too? • Repetition of the word “remember” to emphasise the strength of the poet’s message.

29. It could be argued that all history repeats itself. Duffy really wants to convey the idea that history must not be forgotten. • “After the history lesson children run to their toys”. • History lessons are seen to be rather insignificant in the poem and Duffy is rallying against this.

30. Theme of Humanity • Man’s kindness to man: or not, as this poem shows the reader. • “They shot her in the eye”. • This is an unnecessarily brutal act. Human cruelty. • “young men gossiping and smoking by the graves”

31. The soldiers are portrayed as actively enjoying themselves. This is a double kind of cruelty. • “I heard the click. Not yet. A trick.” • Excessive, gratuitous cruelty towards the Jews is evident.

32. There are a lot of mind games going on: not just physical, but mental torture, too. Which form of torture is worse? • How much human dignity can the Jews maintain in these conditions? They are robbed of their humanity. The human condition has sunk to new lows.

33. Theme of Femininity • The poet adopts a strongly female persona (much of Duffy’s poetry is like this). • Reference to “daughters”. Idea of sisterhood. • Use of female names, including biblical ones – “Rachel”. • Soldiers depicted as being torturing male figures.

34. Common Personal Response the Poem • Shock – “they break our fingers” • Respect  - “brave” • Disgust – “One saw I was alive. Loosened his belt” • Horror – “my bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear”

35. Questioning – “How would you prepare to die, on a perfect April evening?” • Remembrance – “Do you not consider me?”