(Note that analyses can vary widely, hence these annotations must only be used in conjunction with your own analyses).
Annotations of Song by George Szirtes
Summary of the poem:
Title: like a battle hymn, the arts. There can be powerful messages behind songs, or for leisure.
Tone: Emotive and figurative language meant to evoke emotions within us,
Summary: Helen Suzman: a white anti-apartheid activist, poem was written to mark her birthday. The poem explores the relationship between art and politics, and how opinions and voices can change the course of history.
Structure: First and last stanza rhyme scheme is AAAA, others ABABCC. Cyclical, repetitive, but also regular beat like an actual song. Marching effect? First and last = 4 lines, other 6. Adds musicality. But the cycle is broken in the last line, reversal. ITALICS! Refrain.
Themes: Art in political situations, conflict, upheaval, emotions, change through small things.
Devices used: onomatopoeia (add to the sound effects), juxtaposition, metaphor (hall = Earth), synecdoche (small hands = people), semantic field of disequilibrium, symbolism, repetition, hyperbole (gives sense of hope),
Links to other poems: History, Material (evoke emotions)
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