Emma Weinfurt
Author's Biography:
Liz Lochhead was born on December 26, 1947 in a small mining village right outside of Motherwell, Lanarkshire in Scotland. She is a poet, as well as a play writer, translator, and broadcaster, and from 2011-2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland. The primary school she attended was where she gathered memories to incorporate into some of her poems about childhood. Her teachers always encouraged her to study English, but she was determined to go to the Glasgow School of Art where she ended up studying for 5 years and wrote her first poem, 'The Visit'. After graduating, she taught art at a couple high schools, which was a career that she did not enjoy. Liz was also involved in the national Children's Panel system, which inspired her to write some poetry in the eyes of a child.
https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/liz-lochhead
Poem:
Trouble is not my middle name
I was not born for this.
Trouble is not a place
though I am in it deeper than the deepest wood
and I’d get out of it (who wouldn’t?) if I could.
all these knots and really listen.
Liz Lochhead was born on December 26, 1947 in a small mining village right outside of Motherwell, Lanarkshire in Scotland. She is a poet, as well as a play writer, translator, and broadcaster, and from 2011-2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland. The primary school she attended was where she gathered memories to incorporate into some of her poems about childhood. Her teachers always encouraged her to study English, but she was determined to go to the Glasgow School of Art where she ended up studying for 5 years and wrote her first poem, 'The Visit'. After graduating, she taught art at a couple high schools, which was a career that she did not enjoy. Liz was also involved in the national Children's Panel system, which inspired her to write some poetry in the eyes of a child.
https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/liz-lochhead
Poem:
Trouble is not my middle name
Trouble is not my middle name.
It is not what I am.I was not born for this.
Trouble is not a place
though I am in it deeper than the deepest wood
and I’d get out of it (who wouldn’t?) if I could.
Hope is what I do not have in hell –
not without good help, now. Could you
listen, listen hard and well
to what I cannot say except by what I do?
not without good help, now. Could you
listen, listen hard and well
to what I cannot say except by what I do?
And when you say I do it for badness
this much is true:
I do it for badness done to me before
any badness that I do to you.
this much is true:
I do it for badness done to me before
any badness that I do to you.
Hard to unfankle this.
But you can help me. Loosenall these knots and really listen.
I cannot plainly tell you this, but, if you care,
then — beyond all harm and hurt –
real hope is there.
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/trouble-not-my-middle-name/
Analysis:
Paraphrasing: The speaker is not trouble, but feels that they are in it and need help to have hope. Bad that the speaker has done is because of bad that has been done to them. The speaker knows it is hard to understand, but if the reader listens than there is hope.
Speaker: The speaker in this poem is a child from the children's panel system in Scotland. The panel is a system that ensures that a child is getting the best opportunities that they can in life by being represented by adults who understand them and the problems that they have encountered/endured. The speaker asks the reader to understand that they themselves are not trouble, but they instead are in it and need the reader to bring them hope.
Figurative Language: In this poem the author uses figurative language to help the reader picture the scenario of the child more clearly. For example, the poem says that that the speaker is not trouble, but is "in it deeper than the deepest wood," which is considered a hyperbole. The speaker also writes at the very beginning of the poem about how trouble is not her middle name, but one cannot actually be trouble itself. Lastly, the speaker aknowledges that what she has been saying is hard to understand, but if the reader will "loosen all these knots and really listen," than there is hope for the speakers future. The phrase means that the speaker wants the reader to really try to understand what is being said to them.
Form: Each stanza of the poem has its own main topic: the first stanza talks about the speaker being in trouble, the second says how there is hope if the reader listens, the third discusses badness being spread from their past, and the fourth stanza talks about how what the speaker said is hard to understand. At the beginning of the poem there is a period used after each line which the speaker uses to indicate that what is being said is a clear point and fact.
Tone: The tone of the poem is longing. The speaker longs to get out of their situation and move onto the future. The writer also longs for the reader to understand what they are saying so that they can gain hope.
Theme: Who one can become is more important than who they were.
Picture:
https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=kid%20going%20up%20stairs&tbs=sur:fmc#imgrc=LJOhT4pXAYQHDM:
The top of the stair case represents sucess, and the staircase is the Children's Panel System that helps the child reach their full potential.
Paraphrasing: The speaker is not trouble, but feels that they are in it and need help to have hope. Bad that the speaker has done is because of bad that has been done to them. The speaker knows it is hard to understand, but if the reader listens than there is hope.
Speaker: The speaker in this poem is a child from the children's panel system in Scotland. The panel is a system that ensures that a child is getting the best opportunities that they can in life by being represented by adults who understand them and the problems that they have encountered/endured. The speaker asks the reader to understand that they themselves are not trouble, but they instead are in it and need the reader to bring them hope.
Figurative Language: In this poem the author uses figurative language to help the reader picture the scenario of the child more clearly. For example, the poem says that that the speaker is not trouble, but is "in it deeper than the deepest wood," which is considered a hyperbole. The speaker also writes at the very beginning of the poem about how trouble is not her middle name, but one cannot actually be trouble itself. Lastly, the speaker aknowledges that what she has been saying is hard to understand, but if the reader will "loosen all these knots and really listen," than there is hope for the speakers future. The phrase means that the speaker wants the reader to really try to understand what is being said to them.
Form: Each stanza of the poem has its own main topic: the first stanza talks about the speaker being in trouble, the second says how there is hope if the reader listens, the third discusses badness being spread from their past, and the fourth stanza talks about how what the speaker said is hard to understand. At the beginning of the poem there is a period used after each line which the speaker uses to indicate that what is being said is a clear point and fact.
Tone: The tone of the poem is longing. The speaker longs to get out of their situation and move onto the future. The writer also longs for the reader to understand what they are saying so that they can gain hope.
Theme: Who one can become is more important than who they were.
Picture:
https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=kid%20going%20up%20stairs&tbs=sur:fmc#imgrc=LJOhT4pXAYQHDM:
The top of the stair case represents sucess, and the staircase is the Children's Panel System that helps the child reach their full potential.
The figurative language used in this poem is definitely used to picture how the child is portrayed in the poem. I also feel like this poem is a topic we can all can relate too, we often feel like we are "trouble" to our paths and we need hope to get through it.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you took a positive tone for the theme and the picture. When I first read the poem I interpreted it as a mysterious and vengeful. Another way the poem could be interpreted could be more focused on the lack of control, demonstrated when the speaker says, "I’d get out of it (who wouldn’t?) if I could, " leading the reader to believe they have no control and have no choice to what is happening to them. The vengefulness of the poem is clearly manifested when the speaker claims, " I do it for badness done to me before," meaning they only hurt others who hurt them. Although, vengefulness and the lack of control seemed fitting at first, when I read the speaker section of our analysis it added a new dimension, and your theme made plenty of sense. Because the speaker is a child, the words portray innocence and overall the theme connected that aspect.
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