Poems!

At the Bus Station by Julius Chingono

 Rhyme Scheme is a free verse as the
poem adds to chaos and the poem
doesn’t have an order
 There is no setting which adds to the
universality to the text.
 The theme of the poem is the break
down of civility in society and the rise of
incivility.
 The rat race is compared to the struggle
at the bus station, upon finally entering
the bus, the rats are now successful.
 The poem is simply an instruction
manual on how to survive the fight to
board the bus.
 Society is very fragile and can crumble
at something as simple as boarding the
bus.
 Use of enjambment and caesura is
abundant in the poem
 Caesura: pause in the middle of the line
 Enjambment: takes a line to the next
line
 The poem is chaotic in structure, which
gives the illusion of chaos which
matches the content of the poem.
 The entire fight at the bus station is
hyperbolic as the entire thing is
compared to a battle and it is
hyperbolically giving an instruction
manual for what is a simple scuffle.
 Strong visual imagery (“you hang in the
air”, “unfasten all buttons”) This paints
a picture of struggle and violence at the
bus station.
 Evidences: ‘hauled’-pushed and pulled
against your will (negative connation)
‘to avoid being undressed’- undressed is
a sense of vulnerability. This indicates
you cannot show weakness or empathy
as you will be taken advantage of. (be
ruthless)
 ‘pay no attention to human sounds’- if
you listen to the sounds and show
empathy, you will be taken advantage
of and left behind. (The rat race is
ruthless. You cannot be civil in an uncivil
society.)
‘Words lose meaning until you are inside
the bus ’ -nobody cares who you are
until you boarded the bus of success.
Nobody will listen in your struggle to
board the bus but once you are
successful, they will listen.
‘scrambling’- the scrambling implies
that they are rats, all struggling to get
one finite resource. (money, jobs and
promotions)
‘Tighten your belt’(idiom)-spend less
money because you aren’t earning
enough to survive.
Vocab:
 This evidence_____
 Suggests
 Implies
 Highlights
 Refers to
 Adds to the idea
 Supports
 Emphasises
 Reinforces
 Displays
 Shows
 Gives a sense of
 Depicts
 Brings out
 Evokes
 Conveys
 portrays
 symbolises
 signifies
Poetic Devices:
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Hyperbole
 Repetition
 Personification
 Zoomorphism
 Onomatopeia
 Poetic Persona
 Anaphora
 Epiphora
 Synecdoche/Microcosm
 Enjambments
 Caesura
 Alliteration
 Plosive sounds- are hard consonant
sounds
 Juxtaposition
 Oxymoron

The Road by Nancy Cato

 Rhyming Scheme: ABAB for the first
stanza. 2nd and 4th line rhyme for the rest
 of the poem(upbeat rhythm)(Hopeful
poem)
 Explicitly, she is driving a car very fast
down the country road. It is just her and
her thoughts as she moves along life.
Introspective poem.
 An illusion is being created that she is in
control of everything around her and
this makes it seem that she is the only
one that exists in the world.
 ‘Rising moon go back’ this tells us that
she is in control of time because she is
able to control the movement of the
car. Everything is blurred around her.
She is going through her past and
thinking about the parts of her past and
her decisions for the future.
 ‘Eastern track’ foreshadowing because
she will choose the sun as the sun rises
in the east. (Sun represents hope)
 ‘Time itself stood still’ this is a
juxtaposition as 2 opposing ideas
(racing, still) are being put together
 ‘stood still’ this is an alliteration and a
plosive sound as the reader is forced to
slow down whilst reading this implying
that she’s in control of our time as well.
 ‘Stars swarmed’ – swarmed is a
zoomorphism as the animal quality of
swarming is applied to the stars.
Swarming has a negative connation
suggesting that the poet is being
overwhelmed by her problems. As she is
driving so fast, she is leaving her
problems behind.
 ‘like a long black carpet’ the night is
being compared to a black carpet and
she is driving on the carpet which
suggests that she is in control of space
as well.
 ‘all ahead was bright’ this tells us that
the poet has a choice to either go
 towards the light or submerge
themselves in the darkness.
 ‘whizzed along wires’ this is an
onomatopoeia and an alliteration
 ‘fly too fast’ this is a zoomorphism as
days are being given the ability to fly.
The poet is simply telling us how quickly
time is passing as she is in control of
time and space.
 ‘telephone poles loomed up like years’
this is a simile as a telephone pole,
which is something concrete is being
compared to something abstract, This
indicates that she believes she is in
control of time and space. Telephone
poles represent her past.
 She explicatlly declares that light and
movement, sky and road and life and
time are all the same and that she is in
the middle of it and can see everything.
 ‘through the night’ represents the
struggle and her journey to reach hope
at last.

The Bus by Arun Kolatkar

 Free verse poem
 Written in plain and simple language
 Theme is tradition vs modernity and the
caste system vs a world without it
 ‘tarpaulin’ represents the caste system
 ‘cold wind keeps whipping and
slapping’-personification ( the word
‘whipping’ has a negative connotation
and all the violence in the caste system)
 ‘slapping a corner of tarpaulin at your
elbow’- this represents how the lower
caste faces all the violence in the caste
system
 ‘roaring road’- this statement is an
alliteration, onomatopoeia and a
 zoomorphism as it gives the road the
characteristics of a tiger.
 ‘Little light spills out’ represents the
only thing the upper caste allows the
lower to see.
 The lower caste person perceives
himself from the glasses of the upper
caste man. This means he is only
allowed to see what is shown to him by
the upper caste. He sees half the things
as the upper caste only allows the lower
caste to be seen as lesser than or
inferior to the upper caste.
 Light-progress or hope
 When the light hits the old man, it is up
to him whether to acknowledge it and
open his eyes as its his choice whether
he wants to leave the tradition behind.
 The visitor is looking for a world where
there is no caste system and traditions
binding him.
 The light hits the bus driver, who is the
leader who is driving the bus. It is a
bumpy ride because the driver is unsure
of where he wants to go.

Boxes by Sapurna Chattarji

 Themes: Urbanization, Poverty and

Migration
 The use of enjambment and caesura
makes the poem extremely cramped
which matches the content of the
poem.
 ‘balcony bears’ -alliteration
 Orchid smuggled from Singapore- the
lady represents the orchid and she was
forced to migrate to Mumbai.
 ‘roots cling to air’- she is unable to grasp
the fast and new life of this new city.
She is unstable.
 ‘nine steps from door to balcony’- this
implies that her house is extremely
small.
 ‘giant insect fretting in a jar’- she views
her self as a giant insect fretting in a
jar(her house). Insect has a negative
connotation as she is referring to herself
as dirty and disgusting.
 ‘one side of her one room home’- small
size of the house
 ‘cooks dal in an iron pan’- dal is an
extremely cheap grain and the use of an
iron pan suggests that she is poor as an
iron pan is a cheap pan that is
multipurpose.
 ‘smell of food is good.’ – olfactory
imagery. Gives a sense of a home and
the warmth of one’s home.
 ‘window bars’ connotate imprisonment,
suggesting that she is in a situation she
cannot get out of.
 ‘sing-song of voices’ this implies she
lives in a slum and doesn’t have privacy.
 ‘giant quilts threatening to fall’ -
personification. (indicates she doesn’t
have much space in her house)
 ‘back to the wall’(idiom) means that
they are trapped and cramped
 ‘sleeping room only’- remainder of the
size of the house
 ‘fall in and kick off’- juxtaposition. Kick
off is a positive connotation whereas
‘fall in’ is a negative one.
 bb

 ‘corridor with a bed.’ – represents the

room
 ‘un hidden by her curtains’- this means
that the lives of migrants are
transparent and are visible to everyone.
(no privacy)
 Black pigs- the woman and her husband
 ‘city grows taller’- personification
 ‘students wives lovers babies’-these
people are dependent on others for
their survival and the city is able to
destroy them with ease.
 ‘boxes grow smaller’-oxymoron
 The lady is a synecdoche as she
represents the entirety of the migrant
community.

These are the Times We Live In by

Imtiaz Dharker
 ‘reading you backwards’-The officer has
already formed an assumption about
the poet and is now looking for
evidence to prove himself right.
 Theme: discrimination and stereotyping
 ‘makes as much sense as anything else’-
she is resigning to the offensive
behaviour and expresses the absurdity
of the situation
 It is unjust to judge a person based on
their religion, colour or name.
 ‘Shrink to the size’- The officer makes
the poet feel small and insignificant as
the officer misuses his power
(humiliation of the poet)
 ‘Sign of the times’-epiphora- TO
EMPHASISE THAT PEOPLE
SHOULDN’T BE DEMEANED LIKE THIS.
 ‘you really have to laugh’- sarcasm and
bitterness towards the racists
 ‘made you over completely’ – they are
acting as if she had been made over
completely. Loss of identity
 Missed out on your heart- the officer
judges her completely based on her
name and religion instead of treating
her equally like any other traveller.
 ‘Rustles as it lands.’- nobody really cares
about minorities and their rights which
means that they have very less
 contribution to society as they are
considered inferior to others.

Boxes:
The poem ‘Boxes’ by Sampurna Chatarji
effectively displays the themes of
Urbanization, Migration and Poverty. The
poet speaks about migrants and their
hardships.
‘an orchid smuggled’ This evidence
suggests that the woman in the poem
represents an orchid and she had been
forced to migrate from Singapore, thus the
use of the word ‘smuggled’. This tells us
about the challenges of migration and how
these people have to go through great
amounts of suffering. ‘October sun turns
tender’. This evidence explains that the
woman leads such a challenging life that
she is only able to sleep for 2 hours in 1 day.
Migrants have to slog on a daily basis in
order to make ends meet. The poet is able
to bring out the theme of migration
effectively by displaying the challenges of
their lives.
At the Bus Station:
The poem ‘At the Bus Station’ is written by
Julius Chingono. The poem has 2 major
themes: civility and incivility and the race
of life. The poem speaks about how fragile
society is and how it can crumble to
something as simple as boarding a bus. The
poet has effectively shown us how a simple
act like getting onto a bus is much like life
itself. We all are ‘scrambling’ to board the
bus of life and willing to go till any end to
ensure that. ‘avoid being undressed’ this
evidence supports the theme of civility and
incivility as the word ‘undressed’ is
associated with vulnerability or weakness.
It is essentially telling us that if we were to
show weakness or empathy to others, we
are bound to be taken advantage of. How
can one be civil in an uncivil society?