1. Apart from three full stops at the end of some quite long and complex sentences, there is no other punctuation in this poem. What is the effect of this? Does it influence the way you read the poem?
2. Look at the third line of the last stanza, ‘The birds the grass the trees the lake’. What is the effect of this list?
3. Think about the sound of bells. What might we associate with this sound?
A bell marks the end of a lesson
4. The sound of the bell is mentioned twice in the poem. Highlight both of these. What does the bell represent for the hunchback and other users of the park? How does the mention of the bell help to structure the poem? Does the bell in this poem remind you of any other hunchbacks in literature?
5. Highlight the other words that are repeated in the poem and consider the effect of this repetition.
How do some of the repeated words contribute to the poem’s themes or ideas?
6. The sound of the words in the poem as well as their meaning was important to Thomas and he was famous for his incantatory (song-like) style of reading of his own work.
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The sound of ‘The Hunchback in the Park’ is enhanced by the following techniques:
 alliteration (the repetition of consonants usually at the beginning of words), or more specifically sibilance (a hissing sound, for example s or sh
, eg ‘
S unday s ombre bell’)
 rhyme (words with matching final vowel and following sounds, eg d own /t own ) and half rhyme
(matching final consonants, eg gro ves / lea ves)
 rhythm (the pattern of sounds in the six-line stanzas with 7 –10 syllables per line).
Try to find other examples of alliteration, rhyme and half rhyme in the poem.
Now write a PEE paragraph about the effect of Thomas’ use of sentence structure and sound in the poem.
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1. Apart from three full stops at the end of some quite long and complex sentences, there is no other punctuation in this poem. What is the effect of this? Does it influence the way you read the poem?
2. Look at the third line of the last stanza, ‘The birds the grass the trees the lake’. What is the effect of this list?
3. Think about the sound of bells. What might we associate with this sound?
A bell marks the end of a lesson
4. The sound of the bell is mentioned twice in the poem. Highlight both of these. The bell marks the time that the park is opened and closed. How does the mention of the bell help to structure the poem? Does the bell in this poem remind you of any other hunchbacks that you may have heard of?
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5. Highlight the words and phrases that are repeated in the poem and consider the effect of this repetition. Here are some examples:
 ‘trees and water’
 ‘dark’
 ‘kennel’
 ‘lock’ ‘chained’ (repeated later as ‘locks and chains’)
How do some of the repeated words contribute to the poem’s themes or ideas?
6. The sound of the words in the poem as well as their meaning was important to Thomas and he was famous for his incantatory (song-like) style of reading of his own work.
The sound of ‘The Hunchback in the Park’ is enhanced by the following techniques:
 alliteration (the repetition of consonants usually at the beginning of words, eg ‘ S unday s ombre bell’)
 rhyme (words with matching final vowel and following sounds, eg d own /t own ) and half rhyme
(matching final consonants, eg gro ves / lea ves)
 rhythm (the pattern of sounds in the six-line stanzas with 7 –10 syllables per line).
Highlight one more example of each technique on your copy of the poem.
Now write a PEE paragraph about the effect of Thomas’ use of sentence structure and sound in the poem.
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