Working-Class Poems and Autobiographies

Janet Hamilton, "Oor Location"

1. How would you characterize Hamilton's language? From what point of view is the poem declaimed?

2. What aspects of her neighborhood's physical setting and the morality of its inhabitants irritate her? What does she see as the root of the problem? Is there a progression to the poem's thoughts?

3. What can you tell about the poem's literary context, provenance and audience from its allusions?

4. Are aspects of the poem humorous? Does the humor detract from or reinforce its serious points?

Ellen Johnston, "The Last Sark"

1. From what point of view is the poem spoken? Why do you think Johnston chose this speaker to present the poem's theme?

2. What account does the poem give of the sources of poverty?

3. What is the progression of thought from stanza to stanza?

4. How does the poem's language complement its subject?

Do you think this is a well-crafted poem to convey its theme?

Short Poems: Campbell, Stevenson, Bernstein

1. What seems unusual about Elizabeth Campbell's point of view toward war?

2. Can you tell anything about her class status from the poem itself? What in her life experiences might have prompted thoughts on this subject?

3. The author of "Dog, who is thy master," probably had only a year or two of schooling. What seems unusual for its period about her poem and its use of poetic language?

4. Why might the theme of a wandering dog have appealled to a peasant poet of mid-nineteenth-century Scotland?

5. What evils are satirized by "Wanted in Glasgow"? What expectations and hopes does the poem reflect?

6. Is the poem's form appropriate for its content?

Mary McPherson, "Farewell to the New Christmas"

1. What aspects of Highland culture are conveyed by this poem? What do we learn about the speaker's life and opinions?

2. Which aspects of the poem seem associated with ritual or symbolism? Why do you think the author chose to write about a Christmas celebration?

3. Why does the speaker feel a sense of loss? What resolution is achieved at the end of the poem?

4. What common features do you see in these poems? Are there some which seem to stand out by virtue of unusual traits? Do any of these poems seem to convey a political message?

Memoirs: What is striking about Campbell's memoir? What facts does she tell us about her early life? Her sensibility? Why does she tell us about the moth? The concern with the distance to mountains?

What do we know about her later life? Her husband and children? Why do you think the narrative trails off quickly in describing her adulthood?

In Johnston's "Autobiography," what does the poet wish us to know about her childhood? What were some traumatic events in her early life? Do you think these occurences were uncommon for persons of her social class at the time?

What are the important events which have structured her life? What does she seem to want most? What does her narrative seem to reveal about her character? About the circumstances of a factory worker who wished to write poetry?