In the Snack Bar

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The poem “in the snack-bar” by Edwin Morgan is about an old man who struggles with everyday life, an onlooker helps him go to the toilet before he leaves the crowded diner to go home. Morgan describes the situation using poetic techniques which asks us the silent question, would you do this yourself? It paints a picture of what this elderly man has to do to live. One of the poetic techniques Morgan used is onomatopoeia it is used well to show all the senses that the man would experience the situation in the snack-bar. He uses words like “crunch of spilt sugar” this allows the reader to imagine how dangerous the dirty floor is for him as he walks over it and we imagine that he could easily slip. It is also used to show that the floor is not very clean; because the man is blind the “hiss of the coffee machine” will help indicate where he is and get him to the right place to go towards the stairs. Another simile to capture to create imagery “A few yards of floor like a landscape to be negotiated” this is used to say that the floor area is very tight, and there is not a lot of room for manoeuvre It is shown that you have to be able to see to get around his snack-bar which automatically makes it very difficult for the blind man to get to the toilet which is also down a flight of stairs. Another poetic technique Morgan uses is repetition “and slowly down we go and slowly down we go” by repeating this phrase the poet is emphasising how slowly the old man actually moves. This is trying to show sympathy for the old man as it is a major struggle for him to complete such a simple task. Morgan describes the man as both frightening and helpless in order to create a vivid picture of the complex and ambiguous character. The simile that is used creates a picture “He stands in his beltless gabardine like a monstrous animal caught in a tent” this makes us see something large that
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