From the Journal of a Disappointed Man - Andrew Motion
Stanza/ Quotation Theme Analysis Device
Line
Title From the Journal Reference to the Barbelyon book,
of a Disappointed March 1919. Also possible
Man reference to The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa.
1/1-2 ‘driving a new pile Piers have dead ends like the life of
into the pier’ the man - this is emphasised by the
caesura. Plosive sounds are harsh
and masculine, perhaps showing
how the narrator feels effeminate.
1/2 ‘paraphernalia’ Contrast between the educated
3/3 ‘monosyllables’ poet’s diction - ‘paraphernalia’ -
and the worker’s ‘monosyllables’.
1/3 ‘chains, pulleys, Industrial imagery.
cranes, ropes’
1/4 ‘wooden pile’ Phallic imagery like in Chainsaw
‘swinging’ Versus the Pampas Grass.
Repetition of ‘pile’ in stanza.
1/4 ‘swinging/over Long sentence and enjambment
2/1 the water’ enact the swinging of the ‘pile’.
The stanza break shows the
machine over the water.
2/2-3 ‘massive style… ‘Men’ tied to ‘massive’.
even the men’
2/4 ‘ruminative’ Goes against the idea that these
working class men are not
intelligent.
2/4 ‘me’ Sense of reduction as ‘men’ turns
into ‘me’. Perhaps shows the
narrator’s feelings of inferiority.
3/1 ‘them’ Third person plural pronouns
3/2 ‘they’ emphasise how the narrator feels
distant from the workers, like a
social anthropologist.
3/3 ‘monosyllables’ Could be ironic as the word is not
monosyllabic.
4/2 ‘ladder by the Danger.
water’s edge’
4/4 ‘these men were Problem poem - men working
up against a great against an opponent.
difficulty’
5/1 ‘monsters’ Escalates from ‘men’ to something
Stanza/ Quotation Theme Analysis Device
Line
Title From the Journal Reference to the Barbelyon book,
of a Disappointed March 1919. Also possible
Man reference to The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa.
1/1-2 ‘driving a new pile Piers have dead ends like the life of
into the pier’ the man - this is emphasised by the
caesura. Plosive sounds are harsh
and masculine, perhaps showing
how the narrator feels effeminate.
1/2 ‘paraphernalia’ Contrast between the educated
3/3 ‘monosyllables’ poet’s diction - ‘paraphernalia’ -
and the worker’s ‘monosyllables’.
1/3 ‘chains, pulleys, Industrial imagery.
cranes, ropes’
1/4 ‘wooden pile’ Phallic imagery like in Chainsaw
‘swinging’ Versus the Pampas Grass.
Repetition of ‘pile’ in stanza.
1/4 ‘swinging/over Long sentence and enjambment
2/1 the water’ enact the swinging of the ‘pile’.
The stanza break shows the
machine over the water.
2/2-3 ‘massive style… ‘Men’ tied to ‘massive’.
even the men’
2/4 ‘ruminative’ Goes against the idea that these
working class men are not
intelligent.
2/4 ‘me’ Sense of reduction as ‘men’ turns
into ‘me’. Perhaps shows the
narrator’s feelings of inferiority.
3/1 ‘them’ Third person plural pronouns
3/2 ‘they’ emphasise how the narrator feels
distant from the workers, like a
social anthropologist.
3/3 ‘monosyllables’ Could be ironic as the word is not
monosyllabic.
4/2 ‘ladder by the Danger.
water’s edge’
4/4 ‘these men were Problem poem - men working
up against a great against an opponent.
difficulty’
5/1 ‘monsters’ Escalates from ‘men’ to something
