A BROWN PAPER CARRIERBAG CRITICAL ESSAY

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A BROWN PAPER CARRIERBAG - CRITICAL ESSAY

• Your task is to write a critical essay of Roger
  McGough's poem A Brown Paper Carrierbag showing
  how the poet makes an horrific act of violence
  seem very realistic.

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In the poem A Brown Paper Carrier Bag the poet,
Roger McGough makes an act of violence seem very
realistic. Write an essay and show HOW the poet
does this.
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Paragraph 1 The Introduction

• What THREE things do you need to mention in your
  introduction?
• Say what the poem is about.
• Also, do you need to mention where the poem could
  be set (country and place location) or should
  you make comment about the fact that it could be
  any of a dozen countries in the world today

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Paragraph 2 Stanza (verse)1

• In this paragraph say what is happening and talk
  about the imagery (metaphors) of the poem.
•  This means the way that the poet has used the
  metaphors of the spider's web and the lethal
  stars to describe what happens. The first one has
  been started for you already In stanza one the
  poet has used the words "a spider's web" to
  describe the way that the glass has cracked. This
  is a good comparison because
• You should now talk about the repeated s' sounds
  in this stanza. This is called alliteration. Say
  what you think the s' sound is describing.

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Paragraph 3 Stanza 2

• Here you should talk about the other metaphor
  that the poet uses.
•  Jigsaw what does this imply (childs toy)
• Comment on the words "tucking in", and why Roger
  McGough has left a gap in this verse. Say how
  these words are ambiguous (they mean more than
  one thing).
•  You could also mention the words "shrapnel",
  "hunger" and "sated" and what you think these
  words mean.

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Paragraph 4 verse 3

• In this part of the essay say what has happened.
  You could talk about the poet's words (word
  choice) and why everything has slowed down for
  him (almost freeze framed).

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Paragraph 5 Harmless (Innocuous) words that make
a harmful poem.

• Here, pick out some of the harmless words, such
  as "web". (See how many you can find).
• Say how these things that the words describe
  can't hurt you but the poet has used these words
  to create harmful and horrific pictures in your
  head. The first sentence has been started for
  you. In the poem, the poet has used many words
  that have pleasant associations. These are words
  like.

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Paragraph 6 The conclusion

• Finally, say what you thought about the poem and
  whether it was effective. In other words did the
  poets word choice make the scene come to life and
  what do you think that the poet feels about this
  act of terrorism. You should also mention why the
  poet has placed bold, capital (upper case) words
  (part of the title) around the stanzas. Also,
  what you feel was the best part of the poem and
  why.
• Remember that the bold headings tell us something
  about the "time it takes" and they frame the
  verses like a snapshot (photograph).