Poetry Analysis

Poem: Shooting Stars Author: Carol Ann Duffy

How is the tone of the poem established and how does this develop?
Title: What words/ideas appear in other places in the poem? Is it a line in the poem? What
does it highlight?

“between the gap of corpses I could see a child” highlights the juxtaposition of the innocence
of youth and the experiences of war.

“Fell.” Refers to the victims being shot and symbolizing the death and lifelessness.

“I say, Remember. Remember those appalling days which make the world forever bad.”
Conveys how the tragic events of the Holocaust has left a lasting impact on humanity as a
whole, and the author is ordering to remember such events to prevent such atrocities from
happening again.

Speaker: What is the speaker like? What does he/she love, hate, fear, etc? What is the
speakers attitude toward the subject?

Duffy seems to be deeply emotional affected towards the Holocaust and upset with the
atrocities committed against the victims. She seems to be using the poem as a form of “call to
action” in an urgent manner where she is trying to convey to the reader that society should not
let history repeat itself and prevent such crimes against innocents. She also refers to soldiers
“laugh[ing]” and “young men gossiping and smoking by the graves” in a questioning manner,
creating another contrast.

Paraphrase: What is the main idea of the poem? What big ideas/images stand out? What is
the “story” of the poem? What happens?

I believe that this story is depicting the life of a Jewish victim of The Holocaust who is about to
face their death. Conveying how the Nazis attempted to snatch their valuable possession
such as the speaker’s “wedding ring” through “breaking [her] finger” which happened to all the
other Jews in the camp as they used “our” in many of the phrases, especially in the 1st stanza.
The speaker mentions names like “Rebecca Rachel Ruth” and “Aaron Emmanuel David” who
seems to be their loved ones and people who were once close to the speaker. She witnesses
a child who was standing amongst numbers of corpse and was “shot in the eye” The incident
has traumatized her to the point where began to lose consciousness of her body through “My
bare feet felt the earth and urine trickled down my legs.” She heard the click of another gun
and the “Not yet” indicates she’s been nervous and fearful of her death and values every
another second of life. The next sentence implies how the click was just an opportunity for the
user to deceive his victims and “trick” them for entertaining themselves in mocking them. Then
continues to ask the reader a thorough question about people’s struggles, religious matters

Tools: What poetic devices are used? Most frequently? What tools repeat or create a
consistent image? What are the most powerful lines? How is the poem punctuated?
Metaphor: “Shooting Stars” is a metaphors for the Jews who had suffered in the
concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Alliteration: “Rebecca Rachel Ruth”
Enjambment: “Mourn for our daughters….upright as statues, brave.”

Turns: Where are the spots that the poem turns or shifts? What is the tone at the beginning
of the poem? The end? Where does that change?

At first, the speaker seems to focus on her horrific and gruesome tone then shifts to horrific
and gruesome acts to convey the seasoning behind her initial tone and immerse the reader
within it.

Theme: What are the big, universal ideas addressed in the poem? How are they presented?
Think: tone, imagery, and structural features of the poem

The graphic imagery at first indicated the soldiers committed to theft against the Jews and
stole their wedding rings by breaking their fingers conveying the violence and through the
violent diction. The enjambment of “loosened…his belt” conveys that the speaker was about
to be beaten or assaulted by a soldier, and without any preparation—evoking fearful tone the
speaker is feeling during this horrific experience.

BONUS: Author’s perspective: What is the author's perspective on the issue? How could
that perspective be reflective of or influenced by an underlying ideology?

The author seems to feel sympathetic toward the Jews who experienced such harsh
instances during their time in the concentration camps under harsh conditions and lack of
treatment and stable environment. It seems she feels some sort of aversion and disgust
toward the Nazi soldiers, but since she used allusion to reference—she focused on the
speaker’s emotional experience and turmoil and her being traumatized at the beginning (even
when the child was shot in the eye) then her witnessing such horrific incidents.