Topic:
Look we have coming to dover! – Daljit Nagra
Key Points/Arguments
Themes Literary/Dramatic Devices Techniques of whole poem
‘look we have coming to dover!’ – exclamation, we is direct response to quoted dover beach poem, non native speakers Anthropomorphism – comparison of
‘stowed’ – illegal, unhuman, cargo, epigraph subverts the traditional dover beach perception refugees to animals
‘invade/ratcheting’ – semantic field of war Nagra dismantles ideological view of
‘alfresco’ – isolation, ‘outsider’ England ‘So various, so beautiful, so
‘surf phlegmed by cushy’ – guttural sounds, nature and britains hostility towards various cultures (shows diversity) new…’
‘blarnies’ – colloquial Refugees – collective, personal
‘stowed/seagull/shoal/seasons/swarms’ – sibilance at start of each stanza, onamatepeically reflects sounds of the sea pronouns show inclusivity
‘camouflage’ – anti-immigration sentiments, yet we have a collage of British culture Increasingly LONG lines in each
‘hutched in a Bedford van’ – juxtaposition, constrictions v freedom of landscape stanza mirror evolution
‘pylon and pylon’ – immigrants have to do dangerous jobs
‘swarms’, ‘only then can it be human’ – connotates insects, they don’t feel they have achieved humanity
‘passport us to life’ – verb used as a noun (metaphor for travels)
‘love and I’- formal English, shows developed – upgrade to humans in final stanza
‘blair’d’ PM 2007
Look we have coming to dover! – Daljit Nagra
Key Points/Arguments
Themes Literary/Dramatic Devices Techniques of whole poem
‘look we have coming to dover!’ – exclamation, we is direct response to quoted dover beach poem, non native speakers Anthropomorphism – comparison of
‘stowed’ – illegal, unhuman, cargo, epigraph subverts the traditional dover beach perception refugees to animals
‘invade/ratcheting’ – semantic field of war Nagra dismantles ideological view of
‘alfresco’ – isolation, ‘outsider’ England ‘So various, so beautiful, so
‘surf phlegmed by cushy’ – guttural sounds, nature and britains hostility towards various cultures (shows diversity) new…’
‘blarnies’ – colloquial Refugees – collective, personal
‘stowed/seagull/shoal/seasons/swarms’ – sibilance at start of each stanza, onamatepeically reflects sounds of the sea pronouns show inclusivity
‘camouflage’ – anti-immigration sentiments, yet we have a collage of British culture Increasingly LONG lines in each
‘hutched in a Bedford van’ – juxtaposition, constrictions v freedom of landscape stanza mirror evolution
‘pylon and pylon’ – immigrants have to do dangerous jobs
‘swarms’, ‘only then can it be human’ – connotates insects, they don’t feel they have achieved humanity
‘passport us to life’ – verb used as a noun (metaphor for travels)
‘love and I’- formal English, shows developed – upgrade to humans in final stanza
‘blair’d’ PM 2007
