Best Books Study Work Guide: Poems From All Over Gr 11 HL. Lynne Southey

too, contain repetition. The words of the song express a loneliness but also a determination to stop wallowing in pity and to move on (“put ma troubles on the shelf”) (line 22).23–30The player gives the song rhythm by stamping his feet, playing a bit more without singing and then continuing to sing the words of the song.The song’s words express a feeling of weariness or tiredness and depression, a lack of satisfaction in life, and the thought that death would be welcome and better than life. This is quite a serious statement of negativity to make.31–35The speaker’s voice resumes, telling us the musician went on until the early hours of the morning (“The stars went out and so did the moon”) (line 32) and then the singer finally stopped “and went to bed” with the sound and the emotion of the song still in his mind. But he slept soundly, or like someone dead.The player/singer played and sang the same song well into the night, over and over. The repetitions throughout the poem link us with this. He seems finally satisfied or tired out and goes to bed to sleep well.

      Contextual questions

      1.What elements of blues music do you find in this poem? (3)

      2.What does “With his ebony hands on each ivory key” in line 9 tell us about the complexity of the music? (2)

      3.What is emphasised with the words “pale dull pallor” to describe the gas light (line 5)? (4)

      4.What do you understand by “musical fool” in line 13, and why is the player said to be like one? (3)

      5.Identify the simile (comparison using “like” or “as”) in the last line and discuss its effect. (3)

      (15)

Enrichment activityResearch other blues songs and their words and compare them with this one, quoted in the poem.