COMPARISON TABLE FOR EDWIN MORGAN’S ‘IN THE SNACK-BAR’ AND ‘TRIO’ FOR NATIONAL 5 ENGLISH
Feature/Technique
In the Snack-bar
Trio
Setting
Snack-bar-greasy spoon cafe. No specific location but generally assumed to
be in Glasgow.
Bustling Buchanan St., Glasgow at Christmas.
Narrative/story
Detailed account of an awkward, difficult experience. This poem laments
the necessity/inevitability of human misery.
Brief ‘snapshot’ of a moment of joy. This poem celebrates life and its capacity to
create happiness.
Characters
Old man vulnerable and dependent as a result of old
age/disability/exclusion from society.
The 3 characters are united by their shared joy and anticipation of sharing a gift.
Religious/Classical
Symbolism
The journey reminds us of the stranger (Simon of Cyrene) who helped Jesus
bear his cross on the road to Calvary, although this reads more like a
journey of descent into Hell rather than an ascent into Heaven. Idea that
people are capable of kindness towards others
Significance of the time of year - allusion to the Nativity/Christmas: The ‘trio’
represents The Magi bearing gifts for the baby Jesus. References to
Christmas/tinsel/mistletoe reinforce the nativity theme. Also, the Holy Trinity is
alluded to in the number 3.
Reference in the poem to Christ at end – final line – outburst at God
allowing people to live this way.
Reference in the poem to Christ – do we need religion to be happy
Orpheus in Greek mythology banishes the darkness of the underworld.
Secular society – concerned less and less with the welfare of others.
Reference to Christ in all 3 poems
Reference to Christ in all 3 poems
Mood
Bleak/depressing/miserable.
Joyous/uplifting/celebratory.
Themes
Isolation/treatment of the disabled/exclusion from society.
Religion/ friendship/ taking pleasure in the simplest of things, regardless of faith.
Like ‘Good Friday’, how commercialised/devalued religious holidays have
become.
Narrative
Perspective
At first detached, the narrator is later sympathetic to the old man’s plight.
He accompanies the old man on his journey and so is central to the
narrative.
The narrator is an objective observer, detached from the action although
affected by it.
Present tense
Creates immediacy/realism
Creates immediacy/a sense of life/vitality
Language
Imagery/figurative language/repetition etc used to convey: the man’s poor
condition; the difficulty of his journey; the support given by the narrator.
Imagery/figurative language/repetition/religious symbolism etc used to convey:
the joy of the trio; the attractiveness of the scene; the power of human spirit
which transcends life’s trials and tribulations; that religion is not required to
make a happy life.
COMPARISON TABLE FOR EDWIN MORGAN’S ‘IN THE SNACK-BAR’ AND ‘TRIO’ FOR NATIONAL 5 ENGLISH