EDWIN
MORGAN
NATIONAL 5 UNIT
K Shanks Thurso High School
CONTENTS
1. Short Bibliography of Edwin Morgan
2. In The Snack Bar
3. Trio
4. Hyena
5. Good Friday
6. Winter
7. Slate
Edwin Morgan
Biography
Edwin George Morgan was born 27 April 1920 in Glasgow's West End. Soon after his
birth his parents decided to move to Rutherglen, where he spent his childhood and attended
a local school. After completing Rutherglen school, he went to Glasgow High School, and
began his studies at Glasgow University in 1937. He interrupted his studies in 1940 to join
the Royal Army Medical Corps, then returned to university in 1946. Edwin Morgan
graduated the following year with a First Class Honours Degree, and became lecturer at
Glasgow University, turning down a scholarship to Oxford; he took an early retirement in
1980 and hence ended his career as university professor. He died on 19 August 2010 at the
age of 90 in his beloved home city of Glasgow.
Edwin Morgan has always been interested in many different areas, some of which include
languages, technology, art, and film; he began to travel widely in the 1950s.
He translated poetry from the Russian, Hungarian, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish,
Portuguese, German, and other languages.
In the early 1960s he began to experiment with Concrete Poetry.
Both, readers and critics have always been struck by the great variety in style, form and
subject Edwin Morgan's work provides: From sonnet to concrete poem, from opera libretto
to performance with jazz saxophonist Tommy Smith, his work is as wide-ranging as you
could wish for, its striking inventiveness being just one of its special qualities. He wrote
poems on film and theatre, Science Fiction poetry, Sonnets from Scotland, Glasgow
Sonnets, Instamatic Poems, and News poems, to name but a few. He published numerous
volumes of poetry, as well as collections of essays, most of which are available at Carcanet
Press Ltd., Manchester and Mariscat Press, Glasgow.
His volume of Collected Poems (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1990) is the largest, a very
wide ranging collection.
After his celebrated translations of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (Carcanet, 1992) and
Racine's Phèdre into Scots (Phaedra, Carcanet, 2000), in autumn 2000 Edwin Morgan's
first original dramatic work appeared: A.D. A Trilogy of Plays on the Life of Jesus
(Carcanet, 2000) and was produced on stage by the Raindog Company in Glasgow.
He was announced Glasgow's first Poet Laureate in autumn 1999, and was awarded the
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2000. In June 2001 he received the prestigious
Weidenfeld Prize for Translation, the winning book being the above mentioned Phaedra.
(2001-2009)
In the Snack Bar
A cup capsizes along the formica,
slithering with a dull clatter.
A few heads turn in the crowded evening snack-bar.
An old man is trying to get to his feet
from the low round stool fixed to the floor.
Slowly he levers himself up, his hands have no power.
He is up as far as he can get. The dismal hump
looming over him forces his head down.
He stands in his stained beltless gabardine
like a monstrous animal caught in a tent
in some story. He sways slightly,
the face not seen, bent down
in shadow under his cap.
Even on his feet he is staring at the floor
or would be, if he could see.
I notice now his stick, once painted white
but scuffed and muddy, hanging from his right arm.
Long blind, hunchback born, half paralysed
he stands
fumbling with the stick
and speaks:
‘I want –to go to the-toilet.’
It is down two flights of stairs, but we go.
I take his arm. ‘Give me-your arm-it’s better,’ he says.
Inch by inch we drift towards the stairs.
A few yards of floor are like a landscape
to be negotiated, in the slow setting out
time has almost stopped. I concentrate
my life to his: crunch of spilt sugar,
slidy puddle from the night’s umbrellas,
table edges, people’s feet,
hiss of the coffee-machine, voices and laughter,
smell of a cigar, hamburgers, wet coats steaming,
and the slow dangerous inches to the stairs.
I put his right hand on the rail
and take his stick. He clings to me. The stick
is in his left hand, probing the treads
I guide his arm and tell him the steps.
And slowly we go down. And slowly we go down.
White tiles and mirrors at last. He shambles
uncouth into the clinical gleam.
I set him in position, stand behind him
and wait with his stick.
His brooding reflection darkens the mirror
but the trickle of his water is thin and slow,
an old man’s apology for living.
Painful ages to close his trousers and coat –
I do up the last buttons for him.
He asks doubtfully, ‘Can I- wash my hands?’
I fill the basin, clasp his soft fingers round the soap.
He washes, feebly, patiently. There is no towel.
I press the pedal of the drier, draw his hands
gently into the roar of the hot air.
But he cannot rub them together,
drags out a handkerchief to finish.
He is glad to leave the contraption, and face the stairs.
He climbs, and steadily enough.
He climbs, we climb. He climbs
with many pauses but with that one
persisting patience of the undefeated
which is the nature of man when all is said.
And slowly we go up. And slowly we go up.
The faltering, unfaltering steps
take him at last to the door
across that endless, yet not endless waste of floor.
I watch him helped on a bus. It shudders off in the rain.
The conductor bends to hear where he wants to go.
Wherever he could go it would be dark
and yet he must trust men.
Without embarrassment or shame
he must announce his most pitiful needs
in a public place. No one sees his face.
Does he know how frightening he is in his strangeness
under his mountainous coat, his hands like wet leaves
stuck to the half-white stick?
His life depends on many who would evade him.
But he cannot reckon up the chances,
having one thing to do,
to haul his blind hump through these rains of August.
Dear Christ, to be born for this!
First reading
 Read through the poem carefully and think about what Edwin Morgan is trying to
get you to think about.
 In no more than 20 words summarise what you think the poem is about and what
Edwin Morgan is trying to get us to think about.
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Annotation
To be able to analyse a poem fully and to answer in-depth questions on the poem
you must now work to annotate your poem.
Alliteration used here to create sound
A cup capsizes along the formica,
slithering with a dull clatter.
A few heads turn in the crowded evening snack-bar.
An old man is trying to get to his feet
from the low round stool fixed to the floor.
Slowly he levers himself up, his hands have no power.
He is up as far as he can get. The dismal hump
looming over him forces his head down.
Sounds like…
Edwin Morgan has used a myriad of poetic techniques throughout this poem to create
atmosphere and mood.
Task 1Using a red coloured pen, go through the poem and highlight any examples of the
following:
 Alliteration - The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of
adjacent or closely connected words
 Onomatopoeia- The use of words (such as hiss or murmur) that imitate the sounds
associated with the objects or actions they refer to. Adjective: onomatopoeic or
onomatopoetic.
 Assonance -1. the use of the same vowel sound with different consonants or the
same consonant with different vowels in successive words or stressed syllables, as
in a line of verse. Examples are time and light or mystery and mastery
Fill in the table below with your findings
QUOTE
POETIC TECHNIQUE
Example
‘cup capsizes’
Alliteration used to emphasises the sharp
clattering sound of the cup falling on the
floor.
Task 2
Edwin Morgan gives us a vivid description of the old man in the poem. He achieves this
through imagery and clever use of language. Pick out the quotations that tell us as readers
about the appearance of the man in the poem.
Structure
 What is noticeable about the structure of the poem? Does it have an even structure
or does it vary from line to line.
 Look at the structure of the poem when the two men are climbing. What does it add
to the length and struggle felt by both men in the poem?
 There are many examples of repetition throughout the poem. What do they add to
the monotonous and hard task that is ahead of both of the men in the poem?
TRIO
Coming up Buchanan Street, quickly, on a sharp winter evening
a young man and two girls, under the Christmas lightsThe young man carries a new guitar in his arms,
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the girl on the inside carries a very young baby,
and the girl on the outside carries a Chihuahua.
And the three of them are laughing, their breath rises
in a cloud of happiness, and as they pass
the boy says, “Wait till he sees this but!”
The Chihuahua has a tiny Royal Stewart tartan coat like a tea pot-holder,
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the baby in its white shawl it all bright eyes and mouth like favours in a
fresh sweet cakes,
the guitar swells out under its milky plastic cover, tied at the neck with
silver tinsel tape and a brisk sprig of mistletoe.
Orphean sprig! Melting baby! Warm Chihuahua!
The vale of tears is powerless before you.
Whether Christ is born, or is not born, you
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put paid to fate, it abdicates
under the Christmas lights.
Monsters of the year
go blank, are scattered back,
can’t bear this march of three.
20
-And the three have passed, vanished in the crowd
(yet not vanished, for their arms they wind
the life of men and beasts, and music,
laughter ringing them round like a guard)
at the end of this winter’s day.
First Reading
 What do you think the poem is about?
 Where is the poem set? What time of year is the poem set in?
Write down a quotation that shows how the poet establishes where the poem is set.
 What do you think is significant about the title of the poem?
IDEAS
Lines 1-8
 What is the significant of “sharp winter evening”? What does it establish about the weather
and how does it alter the mood and atmosphere?
 Who are the central characters in the poem?
 What are the central characters carrying?
 Consider the significance of their number, what they are carrying, and the Christmas lights.
 What does the inclusion of the direct speech “wait till he sees this but!” add to the poem?
Look at lines 9-11
Look carefully at the adjectives: What do all three have in common?
1. Add in the appropriate quotations that describe the carried items
2. What do the adjectives add to the description s of the items? Add your own
analysis of each of the quotations in the last column below.
PICTURE
QUOTATION
Example:
‘The baby in its white shawl is all
bright eyes and mouth like favours
in a fresh sweet cake,’
ANALYSIS
This quotation
compares the baby to
‘favours’ on a cake.
Edwin Morgan does
this to show the bright
and youthful nature
and joy that the baby
brings.
 Discuss the effectiveness of the alliteration in line 11.
 What do you notice about the structure in the middle of this poem? Why do you
think Edwin Morgan has done this?
 Discuss the change in register adopted in line 12. Why do you think Edwin Morgan
has done this?
WORD CHOICE
 Write a brief note on the following quotations.
 What do these quotations mean?
 What do they suggest to you?
‘Orphean Sprig’
‘Melting Baby’
‘Warm Chihuahua!’
‘The vale of tears’
‘Abdicates’
‘Monsters of the year/go blank’
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Comment on the dash at the start of line 20?
What is the significance of its use here?
How else is a dash used in the poem?
How does Edwin Morgan use repetition in the poem?
Write down the quotations and lines in which it is clearly used.
OVERVIEW
Edwin Morgan seems to present an unusual view of Christmas in this poem. In what way do you
think it is unusual?
Hyena
I am waiting for you.
I have been travelling all morning through the bush
And not eaten.
I am lying at the edge of the bush
On a dusty path that leads from the burnt-out kraal.
I am panting, it is midday, I found no water-hole.
I am very fierce without food and although my eyes
Are screwed to slits against the sun
You must believe I am prepared to spring.
What do you think of me?
I have a rough coat like Africa.
I am crafty with dark spots
Like the bush-tufted plains of Africa.
I sprawl as a shaggy bundle of gathered energy
Like Africa sprawling in its waters.
I trot, I lope, I slaver, I am a ranger.
I hunch my shoulders. I eat the dead.
Do you like my song?
When the moon pours hard and cold on the veldt
I sing, and I am the slave of darkness.
Over the stone walls and the mud walls and the ruined places
And the owls, the moonlight falls.
I sniff a broken drum. I bristle. My pelt is silver.
I howl my song to the moon- up it goes.
Would you meet me there in the waste places?
It is said I am a good match
For a dead lion. I put my muzzle
At his golden flanks, and tear. He
Is my golden supper, but my tastes are easy.
I have a crowd of fangs, and I use them.
Oh and my tongue- do you like me
When it comes lolling out over my jaw
Very long, and I am laughing?
I am not laughing.
But I am not snarling either, only
Panting in the sun, showing you
What I grip
Carrion with.
I am waiting
For the foot to slide,
For the heart to seize,
For the leaping sinews to go slack,
For the fight to the death to be fought to the death,
For a glazing eye and a rumour of blood.
I am crouching in my dry shadows
Till you are ready for me.
My place is to pick you clean
And leave your bones to the wind.
Veldt-A term used to define certain wide open rural spaces of Southern Africa
Meet the narrator…
The spotted hyena is a common dog–like carnivore found on the dry open plains of the
Masai Mara and much of sub–Saharan Africa. Dark spots cover yellow–brown fur and
their long muscular necks and powerful shoulders make them instantly recognisable.
Hyenas are built for endurance — their large hearts help them pursue prey over great
distances.
The plains of the Mara echo with the squeals and greeting whoops of this much maligned
animal. Their infamous 'laughter' is actually a sign of aggression, fear or excitement. Hear
and see our wild hyena clan from the comfort of your own home, streamed live from the
wilds of Africa
 What is narrative stance is used by Edwin Morgan throughout Hyena?
 What is so powerful about this?
 What tone is achieved in the first stanza of poem?
How do these words add to the tone in the first stanza?
TRAVELLING
PREPARED
PANTING
FIERCE
‘What do you think of me?’
 Why has Edwin Morgan used a question to open the first Stanza?
 How does this connect with the reader?
 Looking at the second stanza, what image is painted of the Hyena?
 Why do you think Morgan is comparing the Hyena to Africa?
TASK
 (Using the poem)place the corresponding quotations underneath and around the pictures
‘I have a rough coat like Africa’
‘Like Africa sprawling in its waters’
‘I am crafty with dark
spots’
DISCUSSION POINT
What do you think Edwin Morgan is trying to say about Africa by comparing it to a Hyena?
In groups of two or more discuss this point
‘Do you like my song?’
 What do you think Morgan means by a ‘song’?
 What atmosphere is Morgan creating in the third stanza?
The third stanza is rich with imagery. Use this imagery to fill in the table below.
Think about why Edwin Morgan has used the imagery he has. What does it add to
the poem? How does it add to our feelings towards the Hyena?
FIGURE OF SPEECH
ANALYSIS
OVERALL EFFECT
‘When the moon pours
hard and cold on the
veldt’
The poet uses a simile
here to describe the light
of the moon. He
describes the moon
shining on the African
land.
The overall effect shows
how the Hyena enjoys
the cold night time.
Use the space below to make notes on the relevance of each of the questions.
QUESTIONS
‘What do you think of me?’
song?’
‘Do you like my
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Very long, and I am laughing?
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‘Would you meet me there in the waste places?’
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 Why has Edwin Morgan used questions throughout his poem?
 What purpose do they serve?
 What does each individual question force you to think about
Documentary vs. Poetry
Watch the documentary and directly compare the ‘Hyena’ depicted in the poem with the
Hyena discussed in the documentary. How does each type of text show the Hyena? Are
there distinct differences? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBvRUHoWYOI
DOCUMENTARY
POEM
I am waiting
For the foot to slide,
For the heart to seize,
For the leaping sinews to go slack,
For the fight to the death to be fought to the death,
For a glazing eye and a rumour of blood.
I am crouching in my dry shadows
Till you are ready for me.
My place is to pick you clean
And leave your bones to the wind.
 What examples of repetition are present in the last stanza of the poem?
 How does Edwin Morgan build up tension in the last stanza?
 What do the final two lines add to our understanding of the poem and the character
of the Hyena?
THE BIG QUESTIONS
 How does Edwin Morgan describe the setting in his poem ‘Hyena’? Give
three examples using quotations
 Describe the appearance of the narrator in the poem? Give three examples
using quotations
 Describe the mood of the poem and how it is achieved. Discuss imagery,
repetition and rhythm here.