English Literature Homework

Q1). Explore how the writer presents strong feelings in this poem.

Ans: The poem Purple Shoes written by Irene Rawnsley in 1993. It consists of four stanzas. Two short
and two long. The writer directly begins the poem with action saying that , “ Mum and me had a row
yesterday , A big exploding”. At the beginning of the poem we get to know that this poem has two main
characters , the mother and the child. Here we also get to know that there is an argument going on
between the mother and the child and as the writer uses the words , “big , exploding”, this shows that
how bad the argument was between the mother and the child. In this line ,
”howdareyouspeaktomelikethatI’mofftostayatGran’s” , the writer shows the anger of the
mother. It shows how angry the mother was on child’s behavior.

The beginning of the second stanza is where we get to know what the argument was about , “ It
was about shoes”. This is the stanza where the writer presents a lot of strong feelings. “ I’d seen
a pair of purple ones at Carter’s,
heels not too high , soft suede , silver
buckles;
‘No’, she said.
Not suitable for school.
I can’t afford to buy rubbish.’” Here the writer tells us what the Purple shoes looked like and
what was the response of the mother when the child asked the mother to buy her shoes. In this
line , “ heels not too high , soft suede , silver buckles;” , the writer tells about how the shoes
looked like and these words also shows that how comfortable the Purple shoes are . The next
line is about the response of the mother , “ ‘ No’, she said. Not suitable for school . I can’t afford
to buy rubbish.” Here the mother refuses to buy the Purple shoes . The Purple Shoes are a a
kind of rubbish for the mother . The Purple Shoes are described as “rubbish” from the mother
to show how useless these shoes are for the mother but for the child getting these shoes is a
kind of getting diamonds. “ They made footsteps in my mind , kicking up dance dust; I wore
them in my dreams across a shiny floor , under flashing coloured lights. It was ruining my life
not to have them.” The writer uses personification , metaphor and hyperbole to show the
powerful beauty of the shoes and not having those shoes was a kind of ruining the child’s life.
In the third stanza we get to know that the child’s mother finally agrees to buy her the Purple
shoes . We also get to know about the happiness of the child when she get those Purple Shoes.