Glasgow 5 March 1971 by Edwin Morgan

Glasgow 5 March 1971 by Edwin Morgan

‘Glasgow 5 March 1971’ is a poem by Edwin Morgan which creates a

picture of a corrupt figure, but in a way the corrupt figure can be

seen as a hero if we look at the poem in the corrupt figures point of

view, but generally no one would classify the corrupt figures of being

heroes.

The poem ‘Glasgow 5 March 1971’ is an instamatic poem, where the poet

approaches to give an insight into the violent reality of the inner

city life. From the title we see that it is informal and conveys the

image of a headline report, to give a prosaic note of time and place.

But not only has the headline given us this feeling, as it seems like

a written report of the incident the way the poet has not involved

himself in the poem, but conveys the idea of someone standing back

watching the incident or someone that knows the young couple, besides

that the present tense is used to give immediacy.

The poem can be split into three parts, as there are three couples

involved. The beginning of the poem shows us the young couple are

passing by maybe looking at diamond engagement rings, when suddenly

they are used as human bricks by two young attackers, and fall

backwards into the shop window, suffering the start to bad pain and

injuries. While the two attackers continue to go ahead and snatch what

they can from this shop. At the meantime the two drivers passing by,

focusing on the road ahead trying to avoid the situation, and don’t

bother helping. This shows two corrupt figures, the drivers and the

attackers.

Firstly, the attackers can be classified as corrupt figures due to the

way they have treated the young couple as it disgusts us:

“The two youths who have pushed them

are about to c...

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...ves why are they? But the incident was

caused by the attackers.

The poet makes use of irony throughout the poem which gives us a

clearer image of the poem as it shows how fast the poem is going with

the violence and the pictures are moving about in our mind.

In conclusion the poet has created the attackers to be corrupt as they

stand out and we do have a reaction towards them. But throughout the

poem the poet shows us all kinds of techniques but at the very last

line of the poem Edwin Morgan reveals the message across to us. It

makes us wonder about the society we live in, where things happen and

are ignored and gives us a brief insight to the violence in the inner

city and such ignorance people have. In fact, the last line is very

much thought provoking, as why are the drivers so ignorant as well as

that it makes us think about the world around us.