Zoe Pearson
Strangers Forever by Amin Kassam
Author: -one of most widely published poets in East Africa-often talks about meaning of life +deeper
understanding of nature of human being
Austrian psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud- likely to agree, theorises mind has subconscious part+Carl Jung
Title: The title suggest that everyone will be strangers forever - even us as the readers.
1.Each of us -> Life is compared to a journey on a
train and each person is simply a passenger.
2.is a passenger speaker describes a group of random passengers on a train who
are gathered "by chance"
- seem to be on an endless travel because they never arrive at
their destinations.
3.seated in one huge
4.compartment We appear to be on a train as compartment is a name given to a
section of seats within a railway carriage
5.going we do not know where Not know our destination- confirms metaphor for life.
Provocative+disorientating allusion to the uncertainty of life
6.all strangers Sense of isolation+alienation seeps into verse as speaker
emphasises random/arbitrary nature of our grouping. Perhaps
speaker refering to our lack of choice in being born into the
world+whom we share
7.thrown together by chance *poignant reminder that the experience of being alive is
unending+dynamic movement into unknown future. •Life
unexpected: speaker strips away comforting illusions we use to
ignore the true precariousness of our predicament
8.who travel without arriving; The train is metaphorical as it never
reaches a destination. This is a metaphor for life.
*idea passengers not actually strangers, but are actually people
in the speaker’s life
Semi-colon:
Offers reader opportunity to pause+digest the opening
description+realise he/she is also one of the strangers- shift at
end of line.
+capital letter- also indicate shift
9.Who can read the whispers speaker poses a rhetorical question+asks who will be able to
know your innermost thoughts and wishes if you don't even
10.of your mind know what they are. People are not always consciously and
completely self-aware and, if a person is not, how will anyone
else ever truly get to know him/her?
Strangers Forever by Amin Kassam
Author: -one of most widely published poets in East Africa-often talks about meaning of life +deeper
understanding of nature of human being
Austrian psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud- likely to agree, theorises mind has subconscious part+Carl Jung
Title: The title suggest that everyone will be strangers forever - even us as the readers.
1.Each of us -> Life is compared to a journey on a
train and each person is simply a passenger.
2.is a passenger speaker describes a group of random passengers on a train who
are gathered "by chance"
- seem to be on an endless travel because they never arrive at
their destinations.
3.seated in one huge
4.compartment We appear to be on a train as compartment is a name given to a
section of seats within a railway carriage
5.going we do not know where Not know our destination- confirms metaphor for life.
Provocative+disorientating allusion to the uncertainty of life
6.all strangers Sense of isolation+alienation seeps into verse as speaker
emphasises random/arbitrary nature of our grouping. Perhaps
speaker refering to our lack of choice in being born into the
world+whom we share
7.thrown together by chance *poignant reminder that the experience of being alive is
unending+dynamic movement into unknown future. •Life
unexpected: speaker strips away comforting illusions we use to
ignore the true precariousness of our predicament
8.who travel without arriving; The train is metaphorical as it never
reaches a destination. This is a metaphor for life.
*idea passengers not actually strangers, but are actually people
in the speaker’s life
Semi-colon:
Offers reader opportunity to pause+digest the opening
description+realise he/she is also one of the strangers- shift at
end of line.
+capital letter- also indicate shift
9.Who can read the whispers speaker poses a rhetorical question+asks who will be able to
know your innermost thoughts and wishes if you don't even
10.of your mind know what they are. People are not always consciously and
completely self-aware and, if a person is not, how will anyone
else ever truly get to know him/her?
