Vernon Scannell's Poem, A Case of Murder: An Analysis
27/5/14
Paul Arbuthnot
A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannell
Vernon Scannell’s poem, A Case of Murder is about a nine year old boy who is wrongly left at home with a family cat in a basement flat, alone with annoyance rapidly turning into hatred.
Repetition is used in the first paragraph to give the situation a dark, unpredictable atmosphere. This probably was the best technique to use “They should not have left him there alone, alone, that is except for the cat. Not old enough to be left alone in a basement flat, alone, that is except for the cat.”
The poet’s description of both the cat and the little nine year old boy creates a lot of tension. As from reading from the poem the boy has a lot of hatred for the cat, and I think this is because of the way the cat is treated, the cat is treated a lot better than the little boy it seems, which isn’t really fair but I think this is where is hatred for the cat grows from. The cat being so happy, joyful and essentially enjoying its life isn’t really helping the boy either.
The nine year olds feelings for the cat are very strong at this point which leads to the boy hitting the cat with ‘daddy’s stick’ and the cat shooting for the door which was almost shut and the boy slamming it with the harmless cat half-through. Onomatopoeia is used well here. “Cracked like a nut, and the soft black thud was dumped on the floor.” The boy suddenly got terrified, bit his knuckles and cried. Scannell used metaphorical text to show the nine year old boys mental state, which actually worked really well. “He fetched a spade and shovelled it and dumped the heavy load of fur in the spidery cupboard under the stair where it’s been for years, and though it died it’s grown in that cupboard and it’s hot low purr growls slowly louder year by year: There’ll not be a corner for the boy to hide when the cupboards swells and the sides split and the huge black cat pads out of it.”
In conclusion I think the literacy devices used by the poet such as
Paul Arbuthnot
A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannell
Vernon Scannell’s poem, A Case of Murder is about a nine year old boy who is wrongly left at home with a family cat in a basement flat, alone with annoyance rapidly turning into hatred.
Repetition is used in the first paragraph to give the situation a dark, unpredictable atmosphere. This probably was the best technique to use “They should not have left him there alone, alone, that is except for the cat. Not old enough to be left alone in a basement flat, alone, that is except for the cat.”
The poet’s description of both the cat and the little nine year old boy creates a lot of tension. As from reading from the poem the boy has a lot of hatred for the cat, and I think this is because of the way the cat is treated, the cat is treated a lot better than the little boy it seems, which isn’t really fair but I think this is where is hatred for the cat grows from. The cat being so happy, joyful and essentially enjoying its life isn’t really helping the boy either.
The nine year olds feelings for the cat are very strong at this point which leads to the boy hitting the cat with ‘daddy’s stick’ and the cat shooting for the door which was almost shut and the boy slamming it with the harmless cat half-through. Onomatopoeia is used well here. “Cracked like a nut, and the soft black thud was dumped on the floor.” The boy suddenly got terrified, bit his knuckles and cried. Scannell used metaphorical text to show the nine year old boys mental state, which actually worked really well. “He fetched a spade and shovelled it and dumped the heavy load of fur in the spidery cupboard under the stair where it’s been for years, and though it died it’s grown in that cupboard and it’s hot low purr growls slowly louder year by year: There’ll not be a corner for the boy to hide when the cupboards swells and the sides split and the huge black cat pads out of it.”
In conclusion I think the literacy devices used by the poet such as