A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannel is a poem which deals with a very
unusual topic; the murder of a cat by a nine year old boy. The poet
brings the poem alive by using different writing techniques e.g.
line lengths.
“A Case of murder” by Vernon Scannel
Critical response to literature by Gregor Baird
“A Case of Murder” by “Vernon Scannel” is a poem which deals with a
very unusual topic; the murder of a cat by a nine year old boy. The
poet brings the poem alive by using different writing techniques e.g.
line lengths, no rhyme or pattern this holds my attention more and
stops the rhyme merge into one tone. He also uses writing techniques
such as Repetition, Figurative language, structure & rhyme. In the
poem the boy has been left with a cat in a basement flat and the cat
is just sitting buzzing away. This really annoys the boy and the
hatred that has gathered up in the boy. This results in the boy
hitting the cat then prodding the cat then crushing the cat in between
the door. In result to this the boy cries and decides to get a shovel
from the cupboard under the stairs and he shovels the cat into the
cupboard under the stairs. Although the cat is dead he thinks the cat
is growing in the cupboard and the cupboard is going to split.
The boy in the poem is very annoyed about the cat “He hated that cat;
he watched it sit a buzzing machine of soft black stuff” because the
cat gets all the attention and he is left out, therefore the boy is
jealous of the cat. From the poem it tells us that the boy is insecure
with his parents “He was only nine, not old enough to be left alone in
a basement flat” because they left a nine-year-old alone with a cat in
a basement flat with no one. This also tells us that h...
... middle of paper ...
...re isn’t something the poet wants to commit to in this poem. It
doesn’t have an order of regular size in each stanza a variety of
length of lines. Unclear pattern allows us to see the change in the
boy’s emotions.
The theme of this poem is all to do with guilt, which has been
mentioned in the essay. Hate is the main emotion between boy and cat,
conscience a thing, which the boy does have, power that has been
swapped from cat to boy and anger which has built up in the boy.
In conclusion to this critical response to literature I have 1covered
the techniques in the poem, the emotions, the situation between the
boy and the cat and the very unusual topic. It has been described how
the poet brings the unusual poem alive for us. We have discussed the
character and how he changed during the main incident and in depth
about the emotion and feeling of the boy.
The poem told the story of a man who is inhibited by language, and has never quite had the ability to articulate his thoughts and feeling through words. It is said that his family members have tried
The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...
Then he was stone-still; the white cat bounded past him and leaped upon the desk; it sat looking at him with large placid eyes and mewed plaintively [...] He hated himself at that moment. Why was he acting and feeling this way? He wanted to wave his hand and blot out the white man who was making him feel this. If not that, he wanted to blot himself out (47).
For this assignment, I have decided to write about a famous poem of Billy Collins which is titled as ‘Introduction to Poetry’ written in 1996.
The Tell Tale Heart, the Raven, Murders in the Rue Morgue. You might have known Edgar Allan Poe as the famous author, poet, editor, and critic. He was a man of mystery, a man of suspense. His works often reflected his troubles and losses in life. Taking a more gothic style of writing, he was a strange and peculiar man. But, did you know he took part in enlisting in the military, or that his death is unknown? Reading this essay, you will find out that there were many more things to Edgar Allan Poe that you might not have suspected. And the horrific events that occurred in his life, he turned into masterpieces, which we read to this day.
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
As mentioned, the parents’ pains, negative emotions and hatred are presented in the first part. Even from the first few lines from the poem: “Ulcerated tooth keeps me...
Poe loves to write about darker, morbid things that make the reader judge the protagonist’s actions, yet pity him for doing such a thi...
...s the theme of family. For example, when you truly love someone in your family, you make sure that you show them you truly love them by not only giving them a hug but also telling them that you love them. I can relate to this situation because whenever I notice that my mom is feeling down, I make sure that I tell her that I love her and she is the best mom in the world. Another theme that is present in this poem that I can relate with my life is the theme of mortality. For example, the man is obsessed with not only how but also why Annabel died. I can relate to the man in this situation because after my mom’s dog passed away about nine or ten years ago I was wondering for the longest time why she had to pass away. She wasn’t always the nicest dog, but I still loved her anyways. This poem celebrates the child-like emotions with the ideals of the Romantic era.
This short story easily achieved the effect that Poe was looking for through the use of description of setting, symbolism, plot development, diverse word choice, and detailed character development. In most cases, the setting is usually indelible to a story, but “The Black Cat” relies little on this element. This tale could have occurred anywhere and can be placed in any era. This makes the setting the weakest element of “The Black Cat.”
The general format Mr. Gray follows is seven stanzas of AACBBC form, wherein the A and B lines consist of eight syllables and the C lines consist of six. Thomas Gray also uses alliteration to emphasize certain aspects of the peom. "...fair round face/golden gleam..."(lines 8 & 18) are two examples of this. The imagery that is used to paint the lyrical picture of the feline stalking its prey also describes in fairly great detail the appearance of the cat's surroundings. Gray's word choice enhances the ever present physical aspects of his subject. "...The fair round face, the snowy beard, The velvet of her paws..."(8-9) presents the ...
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat." Leonard, George McMichael and James S. Concise Anthology of American Literature. Pearson Education, Inc., 2011. 512-518. Short Story.
from all the other children and spent his every waking hour with a fiery old man
The image of the cat clawing at the reeds stands out the most. A person reading this poem can envision the cat clawing the reeds and screaming as the young boys hold it under the water bringing the cat closer and closer to death with each passing moment. The purpose that the young girl tries to explain is that she understands the way young boys are and that they do not love anything.
Michael Sanders, a Professor at Harvard University, gave a lecture titled “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? The Moral Side of Murder” to nearly a thousand student’s in attendance. The lecture touched on two contrasting philosophies of morality. The first philosophy of morality discussed in the lecture is called Consequentialism. This is the view that "the consequences of one 's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.” (Consequentialism) This type of moral thinking became known as utilitarianism and was formulated by Jeremy Bentham who basically argues that the most moral thing to do is to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people possible.