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20th Century Poetry Comparison
A* Grade
By Heresh Rezavandi
Poems:
To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam)
By Adrian Mitchell
Dulce Et Decorum Est
By Wilfred Owen
From Eighth Army
By T.W. Ramsey
Victory
By Francis King
These four war poems written during twentieth century have many things in common. They all portray the attitudes towards war which all seem strongly against the issue, whether it is their own or their nation's. Their ideas have been strongly expressed reflecting some causes of war throughout the two world wars and Vietnam, and the manipulative governments which exploit the sacrifice of their people.
It seems clear that none of the poems glorify war. The only gain which war brings is only for the worse and all the poets claim that it causes mass destruction on the land and on humans. This is reflected in the poem of 'From Eighth Army' in the line "We ploughed the land with burning bomb", which gives us a sense of the devastation humans cause during war, whereas in 'To Whom It May Concern', the quote "Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names" is representing the result of war through the deaths of thousands of soldiers which would have been recorded in a book. The reason that the poets are so against war is that there are long term effects which are far worse from the short term effects of war, such as the devastation of land which results in famine where both the children and the cattle are affected. This is seen in 'Victory', "Our children, like our flocks, grow thin and perish", while in Dulce Et Decorum Est the soldier is scared and disturbed in witnessing a horrible death and feels guilty that he is unable to help the victim, "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,/He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning". The soldier in the poem of 'To Whom it May Concern' is crippled: "Ever since the accident I've walked this way", which is another side effect of war. From this point we can see that death was not the only fear of the soldiers, but to also be crippled and injured was another factor. No doubt the poems have stated that war brings nothing but bad that leads to complicated situations such as death and starvation is not the only concern, but the ruin of ones native land and the pain of their children. The reason for the extremely negative towards war is that the poets Wilfred Owen, Francis King and T.W. Ramsey have fought and have experienced the horrors of war.
In all four poems death has been reflected using some ghastly metaphorical images. It can be seen that Wilfred Owen's poem of 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' has the scene of the unfortunate gassed soldier with precise and explicit detail. The reader gets a sense of the ghastly and disturbing scene, "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,/Obscene as cancer...". As the description of the dying soldier continues, the horror gets worse "Of vile, incurable sores on the innocent tongues,-", and this indicates that the main theme of the poem is death, which is the reason why the poem is filled with such horrendous descriptions. Indeed it was true that these things existed in the trenches of the First World War. In 'To Whom It May Concern' the theme of death has been frequently mentioned: "Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames.". The flames may be representing death as fire is associated with the devil and it is this which is disturbing the wounded American soldier. "You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,/You take the human being and you twist it all about..." also shows that it is not only soldiers which suffer from death and hardship, but also the innocent civilians of the enemies side where they are bombed. While the soldiers are remembered and recorded in a book in 'To Whom It May Concern', in 'From Eighth Army' the dead soldiers which can no longer fight for their country are left to rot and to be "Bleached by the drifting detritus stone.". All these poems reflect the common attitude held by soldiers that death is ghastly and painful where many who served bravely for their country before perishing were forgotten.
An accusation of manipulative governments has been portrayed particularly in 'To Who It May Concern'. The last line of each stanza "Tell me lies about Vietnam" may be indicating the propaganda which is spread by the American government which may be disguising the crimes and bloodshed they were guilty of. Since the soldier has been "run over by the truth one day" he has discovered the hidden actions of the American Government, and as a result he is being gradually being suppressed more and more as time goes by. This is metaphorically represented in the increasing chorus, "So coat my eyes with butter" which may be indicating that the government have found out that he knows "too much" and is a potential danger to their propaganda which is brainwashing the soldiers in both Vietnam and in America, in some ways they are making him blind to see no more of the goings on. Furthermore "Fill my ears with silver" may be indicating that this time he has "heard too much" and have attempt to block him from hearing. In 'From Eighth Army' the line "We never liked them, and we hated sand" may be referring the popular hatred towards the generals which manipulated the soldiers by being "So loving warm, so thirsty" for their blood to fight in a pointless war. In the poem of 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' the soldier is denying and going against the propaganda "The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori" (It is sweet and good to die for your country), which has brainwashed so many soldiers by glorifying war and encouraging them to enlist and fight, since he has witnessed the "drowning" death of the unfortunate soldier.
The amount of guilt and remorse which is reflected off the war poems is great. In 'To Whom it may Concern' the soldier is guilty that he has enlisted since he is crippled with no legs. The soldier has become so disheartened that it has come to a point he hopes the smell of burning is just his brains and of so many years of war the dropping of bombs has become as normal as dropping something normal as "peppermints and daisy-chains". Comparing this to 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' the soldier here is guilty that before his "helpless sight" that he is unable to help "guttering, choking, drowning" soldier in the risk of his own death. It can be argued that he regrets not giving up his own life for his companion as the horrible death and his rotting face may have changed his attitude in saving his own life. While these two poems discuss the regret of becoming soldiers and unable to save other people's lives, 'Victory' discusses the loss in agriculture. "For which with so much hope and so much labour/We fenced our fields" represents this persons regret for wasting so much time and labour over their land, that war has destroyed or wasted. From what is reflected off these poems is that war not only leaves death and destruction but also remorse and guilt which is experienced both by the soldier and the citizen.
In 'Victory' the side effects of war have been discussed more than the short-term affects of death. 'Victory' gives us a sense of the peoples fear of war which the poet feels is more important than their country's leaders hopes. It seems that the lines "Our farms decay, the acres that we cherish/Consume with rot" portrays just one of the afflictions which came across the people whose nation was at war. With the lack of food many people have starved as a result. Furthermore they had to struggle to survive extreme conditions such as the "long polar nightmare of December" which is an example stated by 'Victory'. During many wars which have occurred the people have nearly always disapproved it and have often mocked or hated the ones responsible or who have lead their nation into one. Such attitude is portrayed in the line "Our three old landlords sit and quarrel/For a dead rose/And a few sheaves of thistle, rue and sorrel". The three landlords may be the three leaders of the allied countries, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. War has caused so much catastrophe and destruction that it has reached the point where they continue to sacrifice lives and their wealth for worthless acres of land. In the poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' has described the exhaustion of the soldiers "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks". This shows the heartless spirit of many soldiers during the First World War which was seen again during the Second World War. The line in 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' "But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind" describes the disease and injury which was suffered within the trenches. It seems likely that Wilfred Owen may be referring to the disease trench foot which caused so much agony. Another major side affect of war was its hatred. Through all four poems there is no doubt that the hatred towards war is great. In 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' the soldier has rebelled against the ideology of glorifying war. This attitude is shared amongst all poems which suggests that this was a popular one amongst most soldiers during many wars. Some examples are: 'From Eighth Army' the soldier has accused the generals of being "thirsty" for their blood and blames them for the deaths of thousands and in 'To Whom It May Concern' the crippled soldier accuses the government for being responsible for his accident and again responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent victims.
The structures and styles of these poems greatly affect their meaning. Each poem has its own individual system in presenting the stanzas. In the poem 'To Whom It May Concern' a line is added to the chorus of the poem in each stanza as the poem progresses: "So stick my legs in plaster/Tell me lies about Vietnam", "So fill my ears with silver/Stick my legs in plaster/Tell me lies about Vietnam". Adrian Mitchell has constructed this poem in this fashion to almost tell a story of a soldier who is suppressed by those of a higher rank in the army for discovering the truth behind the whole prospect of the war as the poem goes on with time. As time goes on he is more suppressed, hence this is why a line is added to the chorus. Also the line "Tell me lies about Vietnam" is repeated at the end of each stanza to get the main message of the poem clear that the goings in Vietnam are hidden or kept secret. Rhyme in this poem does not play a big part and only appears in the first two lines of each stanza. In 'Victory' rhyme does in fact play a big part and consists of a sophisticated pattern. Each line rhymes with the following line of the next one : "Tempest and flood/Rats in the granary, the maggot coiled/Within the bud". T.W Ramsey has done this in order to make his poem more effective and for the last words of each line to stand out more. What is peculiar about this poem is that it only consists of one stanza. A suggestion is that the poet wanted his poem to run like a flow instead of being broken down into a couple of stanzas. However, this does not mean that it lacks being an effective poem. Half of them poem consists of lines which only consists of three or four words which repetitively alternate, while the lines above each of these short lines consist of twice as many. The reason for this is that these short lines boost up the poem's effectiveness by establishing the main themes. The line "Consume with rot" is representing the theme of famine, and the line "Shall we keep warm" is representing the theme of hardship through the winter. It seems that 'From Eighth Army' is the most formal poem since it consists of five equal length stanzas eight lines long. The first line of each stanza rhymes with its last leaving the two middle lines to rhyme. The reason why T.W Ramsey has done this is to represent each theme in its own stanza which makes each them stand out more making the poem again more effective. The first stanza being about death, the second about regret, the third about propaganda, the fourth about the government and the fifth about sacrifice. In the poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est', like 'To Whom It May Concern' consists of unequal length stanzas deliberately done to create a story within the poem similar to 'To Whom It May Concern'. Having done this Owen has created a spectacular poem mostly due to its structure. The first stanza creates the atmosphere of the trenches when there is a huge contrast with the second stanza of the dramatic scene of the gas attack. The third stanza having two lines closes the scene with a powerful yet disturbing ending. And finally the last stanza describing the deep inside thoughts of the soldier having witnessed the death.
From what we see in this poem all four have reflected similar attitudes towards war. Although all discussing or describing different things, it is clear that they all have strong negative beliefs that war is nothing but for the worse which brings no benefit for mankind. Part of what makes them such powerful poems is the way the poets have structured them to put forward their messages with great assurance.
A* Grade
By Heresh Rezavandi
'The Lost World' written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle during the early twentieth century is about an expedition where four men dangerously but successfully explore the Amazon jungle in search for dinosaurs and return home with great fame and wealth.
'Jurassic Park' written by Michael Critchton ten years ago is about an island where there are dinosaurs cloned by extracting samples of blood from trapped mosquitoes in amber. Everything is under control until the dinosaurs begin to run loose causing chaos.
Although the two texts are very similar in that they are both about dinosaurs, they have a lot of differences. Having a wide gap at the times of being published both convey very different scientific views on these animals and it is clear that the society during this time was very different such as the theory of the existence of dinosaurs, attitudes to the role of the women in every day life, differences between the social classes, external influences and internal motivation on the main characters of the texts and less evidently, moral and philosophical implications.
Although Doyle has set 'The Lost World' mostly in the Amazon jungle, the beginning of the text is enough for a sense of the society during the early twentieth century. We see that he has limited the involvement of the lower classes in the text since the characters mentioned are people with professional jobs such as journalists and professors. In 'Jurassic park' it is not clear if the people with the high professions have come from different social backgrounds, although it is evident that Professor John Hammond is a millionaire since he owns the park. The lecture where Professor Challenger is invited is full of upper class students, doctors and professors since many of them had high social backgrounds which is an example of a place where they would be entertained. From what we see in 'The Lost World' promotion and fame was difficult to obtain. This is reflected off Edward Malone who goes on the expedition to "justify" his life and Professor Challenger to prove his theory of the surviving dinosaurs. In 'Jurassic Park' this is equally difficult as Professor Hammond spent millions of dollars to clone the dinosaurs and to build the park. It also seems that the park itself is aimed to attract upper class families since the foundation spent "seventeen million dollars" on just part of the scheme. Because of this it can be presumed that this park was aimed at this class since it was a revolutionary and costly scheme hoping to make profit. These two texts show that the contrast between the places where upper class people would entertain themselves in the early and late twentieth century.
Attitudes to women were very different since there are no women present in the place where Edward Malone works. This indicates that women were not given any job opportunities or the idea that a women to have a profession was frowned upon. This is enough to show the substantial amount of sexism during that era. In'Jurassic Park' several of the doctors in the park were women such as Ellie Sattler who discovers some illness' of some dinosaurs. 'The Lost World' shows that sexuality towards women during the early twentieth century was very mild, "He suddenly gave her a resounding kiss, which embarrassed me more than his violence had done", although in 'Jurassic Park' this issue is very openly discussed, "He thought his mother had a boyfriend, but he couldn't be sure...". This shows that over the last eighty years the attitude to sexuality and relationships has greatly changed where even children judge and think about the issue.
The Lost World' portrays Professor Challenger, a "cave-man in a lounge suit", who is a mad scientist, explorer and hunter all in one. When not hurling abuse and attacking "sub-human" journalists, or throwing them out of his grand house in West Kensington which he shares with his "canary" wife, he is an intelligent, deep thinking man who compares himself with the "persecuted prophets Galileo and Darwin" who "have risked their lives to open new fields to science". Jurassic Park portrays Doctor Grant as a less emotional and more patient man who is willing to explain complicated and embarrassing questions to children. This is seen when the eleven year old boy Tim asks about reproduction, and Dr Grant calmly answers that "...many animals give birth by asexual reproduction, without sex" than to call them "rankest impostors" like Challenger who did not have the slightest patience to convince some challenging journalists who were not ready to believe in his theories that there was still some existence of dinosaurs in the Amazon jungle. Doctor Grant is also equally observant and intelligent which is reflected off his knowledge by knowing that "paleontology, the study of extinct life, had in recent years taken on an unexpected relevance to the modern world" which was a highly intellectual and ironic comment since the cloning of dinosaurs had begun. It is not clear what social class Dr Grant comes from although we can assume that it is or beyond the middle class since he is a doctor who received "Thirty thousand dollars a year.....For the last five years" which is an average wage enough to be part of the classes above the lower ones. However it is clear that Professor Challenger is a part of the upper class since he owns a grand house in West Kensington hand has enough money to lead an expedition to the Amazon jungle. From this it can be argued that professors and doctors have increased throughout this century due to compulsory education, that there have been so many they are regarded less important than those a hundred years ago.
There are many external influences on the main characters of both texts. To have a wide and vivid sight of the influences that are implicated, it would be wise if two very different characters are chosen in terms profession, wealth and power, such as Professor John Hammond the owner of Jurassic park and Edward Malone a journalist for the Daily Gazette. Since they rank very differently in terms of class in their society, it could be argued there are different extents on how much pressure each character is put on to be influenced. Edward Malone in 'The Lost World' is constantly influenced by other people. An example is his girlfriend who promises to marry him if he becomes a "man of great deeds" and by Professor Challanger's speech, which both inspire him to go on the expedition. In 'Jurassic Park' it takes more than speeches to influence Professor John Hammond. We see many factors which influence John Hammond but nature has a much greater affect. This is the population of the the dinosaurs and the danger that they may be breeding is the main factor which influences him. From this we can see that Professor John Hammond can also be influenced by individual people, although the action which Dennis Nedry did had a tremendous effect on the park. From this it can be argued that people of Professor John Hammond's position and wealth and society are less easily externally influenced if compared to people with the same position and wealth of Edward Malone. Therefore 'Jurassic Park' has indicated that the wealthier you are are, the more it takes to influence you.
The theories of the existing dinosaurs differ to a large extent. While the two texts are fictional, it can be argued that 'Jurassic park' is more realistic than 'The Lost World' in terms of the issue about the existing dinosaurs. In 'Jurassic Park' the dinosaurs are cloned by a complicated process. Millions of dollars were spent to buy pieces of amber. Some of them contained mosquitoes which had been trapped inside. The blood of the insects would be extracted and separated since the mosquito was likely to sucked the blood of dinosaurs. It was then likely to clone them since "the manipulation of DNA had grown easier". Until the mosquitoes in the amber had been found the process of cloning was as difficult as "having a Xerox machine but with nothing to copy". In 'The Lost World' the whole concept of the surviving dinosaurs on early twentieth century Earth is very different. Professor Challenger claims that dinosaurs had only survived in the Amazon region because of "strange accidental conditions". Since the Amazon was "very rich in known prehistoric forms, dating back in some cases to early Jurassic times" these conditions were suitable for the survival of the dinosaurs since in other parts of the world the "green stuff had run out" meaning the tropical vegetation which was suitable for the existence of the dinosaurs. This is the extent of the text's explanation of the theory of the survival of the dinosaurs which is very unrealistic since there are many places on Earth where there are tropical jungles and therefore according to Professor Challenger's theory they should also have settlements of dinosaurs, and furthermore contradicts the proven theory of the meteorite crashing onto earth and wiping all of the existing species. Also after millions of years the dinosaurs should have evolved into different species and this is not the case in 'The Lost World'. Furthermore Doyle has chronologically misplaced a "huge deer, with branching horns" which would have only appeared in the prehistoric period, many millions of years after the extinction of dinosaurs. This shows the lack of scientific knowledge about dinosaurs less than a hundred years ago. Whereas the theory of the cloning is possible since the cloning of sheep has been successful.
It can be argued that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" greatly influenced Michael Critchon's 'Jurassic Park'. Since both species dinosaurs are from the Jurassic era and both of them are set in South America in the regions of Brazil (The Lost World) and Costa Rica (Jurassic Park). The reason for this is that they are both places with similar conditions in terms of climate and vegetations which were ideal for the existence of dinosaurs. The reason why that the island belonging to Costa Rica was selected in building the dinosaur safari in Jurassic Park is that it was probably cheap to buy since the country Costa Rica is a economically poor nation, and that there were probably very little restrictions in dealing with animal testing. Also since the island is in a remote part of the Pacific there would be less chance that there would be any interference with the schemes. One of the reasons of the survival of the dinosaurs in "The Lost World" according to Professor Challenger is that they were situated in "the deepest parts of the Amazon" where they were "safe from civilization" and the only human beings which were amongst them which could have dominated or harm them were "wild Indians" which were incapable of doing so since they were very primitive according to standards of the "sophisticated Western societies."
Apart from being two great adventures they have both have deep moral and philosophical implications. They have great relevance to modern day society and particularly science. In both texts the main plot is man rediscovering the "past", although in the case of 'The Lost World' the "civilized" world believe that dinosaurs are extinct, where they try to do as little as explore their habitats they are either unsuccessful or are in great difficulty doing so. One of the moral and philosophical implications is that the message which is being trying to be transmitted that man should not interfere what God deliberately keeps remote. Even though He is not mentioned this, is can be an explanation for the misfortunes of the men in 'The Lost World' which can be seen as a punishment by God not to disturb what has been kept "hidden from mankind. In Jurassic Park, again God is not even mentioned or hinted. We get an impression for the second time that man should not interfere or recreate what God has destroyed from the "civilized" world, and if they do they will be punished, which this is the case in Jurassic Park and many are killed or seriously injured. The message is being reflected that science sometimes creates more problems than it solves or attempts to benefit mankind. Even though the park was a fantastic idea and would give the public (mainly the upper class) new original entertainment, the whole scheme was a disaster since the dinosaurs run loose and cause chaos due to an electric failure. In 'The Lost World' when the four men return with a pterodactyl a "monstrous" flying reptile, at once it creates problems by flying loose and causing much alarm to the "horrified crowd" and the four men only prosper by selling the diamonds they bring along with them. From this we can see that the same message is being implied that attempting to bring life which is outside its homeland or era results in failure.
Since both texts have a huge gap of a century when written it is clear that the use of language is different both in terms of narration and speech. In 'The Lost World' as the main characters belong to the classes of high status and the fact , the language is sophisticated and the grammar is almost faultless with error throughout the book, "The indications would be consistent with the presence of a sabre-toothed tiger...", "I should have thought that even a limited knowledge of comparative theory would have helped to verify it,". In 'Jurassic Park' it is less sophisticated and it is often spoken with colioqial and slang, "That's it? Arnold said. "He was screwing around here for hours, it seemed like". The narrator in 'The Lost World' is the main character Edward Malone. His speech lacks from any error and the plot is described with him narrating, "For two days we made our way up a good-sized river, some hundreds yards broad, and dark in colour, but transparent, so that one could usually see the bottom", which can be argued that 'The Lost World' is one of many typical fictional novels during the early twentieth century where there would be a narrator describing and setting the scene. In 'Jurassic Park' none of the characters are the narrators but the author himself. The story is described mostly with the speech of the characters together with narration which brings the action in the story more sudden, "Gennaro tightened the belt, and Muldoon passed him the shells. "About all we can hope to do is blow them apart. Unfortunately we've only got six shells here". The amount of abusive words in 'The Lost World' is very limited and a mild curse such as "if he would go to the devil" was seen as extremely offensive and immoral, "Good Lord!". In 'Jurassic Park' abusive words are used more commonly "God damn it, Arnold, you son of a bitch!" since morality in restricting use of abusive words has decreased over this century.
From what we see from the two texts the message clear that mankind should not interfere with what God has either destroyed or kept outside "civilization" or putting it in terms of science, should not meddle with what has become extinct, or will be punished and catastrophe will be the result.
Drol, Reficul & the Game of Cards
Short Story
A* Grade
Heresh Rezavandi
It was the usual Saturday night for Tony Bronson. His daily sausage and chips would be on his lap while he watched Noel's House Party on BBC1. Like every week he had his lottery ticket on his red leather sofa, waiting for his ticket to win just like every single player throughout the U.K. And like every Saturday after ten past eight he would tear up the ticket and throw the pieces, cursing his luck. However, today was different.
The blonde women on the screen smiled to the audience in their homes, and read out the seven numbers.
"6, 9, 23, 25, 37, 46, and the bonus ball 48".
A huge applause and cheer thundered out of the television set. Tony glanced at his greasy ticket and was about to curse again. He looked at the ticket more closely now, more closely than he'd ever done before. He smirked and just as the joy and the wild excitement full of ecstasy was about to kick in, that's when it hit him. The coughs which spluttered out of his mouth turned into great gasps and wheezes. He thundered his chest, desperate for just a few more gulps of air, frantically beating it with all his strength. Those identical numbers were just too much. He toppled off his old sofa on to the ground.
After a few minutes while Tony lay on the floor, a yellow ooze of slime dripped from his open mouth, while his eyes almost bulging out of his head looked directly at the television.
Just as the ooze dripped on the floor, an unexpected knock faintly rapped the living room door. The door knocked again and then a stranger slowly walked in with his eyes wandering around the vile smelling room, observing every object so carefully. It was an odd looking man, about thirty years of age and it was unusual that he was in the room, let alone the house. Tony did not share his house with any lodgers, nor any family. The stranger was wearing a completely white, pyjama-like gown. He was of medium height and had short blond hair. It was his face which was unusual, for it was very pale and he had these magnificent blue,watery eyes. He walked towards the corpse and kneeled down. An expression of pity filled his face. He stroked Tony's face and positioned his body in a straight posture on the floor.
Unexpectedly the living room door knocked again. This time the knock was much louder and was almost a banging knock. The man in the white suit looked up with an expression of annoyance.
"Good Afternoon, Drol. What brings you here?" he said.
The stranger walked into the room. He frantically waved his hand across his face and swore.
"Bloody hell! What is this smell?".
He clicked his fingers and immediately the smell vanished. He was a tall man with a huge Cuban cigar in his left hand. He ran his hand through his gelled black hair and then flicked off some of the cigar ash from his black, expensive suit. With his waxed black shoes he kicked a toppled beer can into the corner of the room. He looked at the pale man and smirked.
"How's it going down under, Reficul?"
"Fine, fine."
Drol kicked the corpse making more yellow ooze drip from his mouth.
"Fat guy, this Tony. What was his surname?" the man with the cigar asked.
"Er... I think Bronson." he replied.
The two men looked at Tony Bronson while more yellow ooze dripped from his opened mouth. They then looked at each other as if they exactly knew what was about to happen.
"Look, Reficul, I really don't have time to waste, so let's get it over and done with. I'm taking him up".
Reficul scratched his blond hair and replied, "No, I don't think so, he had better come down with me."
Drol smiled as he took a long puff of his cigar and dropped the ashes on Tony's face. He took out a black thin object from his coat pocket, looking very much like an electronic organiser. He opened it up and began to tap frantically at the small keyboard.
"I see you've got a new one. Very classy."
Drol did bother looking up and but nodded his head and replied, "Can't remember writing this, but this Tony Guy is twenty three years of age, born hardy-da-da.........Poor guy, no friends, no girlfriend, no qualifications, no GCSEs or A-Levels, unemployed, oh here's something interesting, he did a sponsored run in 1984 and raised three pounds twenty one pence for Oxfam, and he just died of a heart attack, when realising he'd just won the lottery. That's good enough for me. He's coming up", he laughed.
Reficul slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry. As far as I remember the run was the only decent thing he done. At school he cheated in his exams, was rude to the teachers, stole things from Woolworths, helped himself to his poor father's credit cards, was involved in a mini drugs ring, the list is endless. Sorry Drol, he's going down."
Drol looked somehow annoyed. He took another long puff of his Cuban cigar and looked directly at Reficul. "Can't have that, he did a sponsored run. I think that's enough for him to join his parents".
"Drol, be reasonable. It's not like the old days anymore. I'm having less and less people coming down. Please let me take Tony down."
Drol shook his head slowly again. "No, and that's final."
Reficul sat down on the green carpet and rested his pale face on his fist.
Drol looked pitiful and said, "I'll tell you what, Reficul, since you were once a friend of mine I'll make it fair. That way none of us can complain."
"How?"
"Let us have a card game. The one who wins will take this fatso with him. What do you say? Deal?"
Reficul put out his slender hand and said "Deal."
Drol put out his hand and as their hands met each other a bright white flash exploded into the living room.
The next second Drol and Reficul were in an East-End pub, sitting quietly in one of the corners on one of those typical cigarette-burnt tables. It was a habit of Drol randomly transporting himself and Reficul to obscure places, in different parts of the world whenever they shook hands. Even more obscure he had a hobby of disguising himself and Reficul into people members of the lowest, most disrespected people in society: pimps, transvestites, rent-boys and his favourite; to tramps. Not the tramps you see with cardboards with the words imprinted "Hungry and Homeless, Please Help" but the ones reeking of strong cider, having long tangled hair untouched by warm water and shampoo for several decades, and dark grey anoraks or coats covered in the most vile stains ever known to mankind. It was surprising how he and Reficul could tolerate it.
The noise of chatter and laughter filled the pub. The young students chatted with their girlfriends, while the builders in the corner roared with laughter as they pointed at the two scatty tramps who were playing cards. They remained undisturbed, concentrating the game. Drol downed his forty ninth round of brandy and frowned at his hand. Reficul, however, hummed Amazing Grace while he sipped his milk.
Drol could no longer keep his patience and exclaimed, "Damn! What is wrong with these cards? Why, am I not winning? This game has practically remained a draw."
"Now, now, lets not get angry, that's what makes this game so fascinating, its very difficult to win and and also very difficult to lose. So this game is going to take a while."
A long hour passed. Drol had become very impatient and had drunk over three hundred glasses of brandy making a mountain of glass surrounded their table. Meanwhile, Reficul enjoyed sipping his milk which never seemed to finish. The game they played was no ordinary game. It was a game devised right on one of the pub's tables. The idea of the game was to make the sum of eleven with the four cards Drol and Reficul had in each handout. The winner would be the one with the most points after two hundred rounds.
Another hour passed. The score: fifty points to Drol and forty nine points to Reficul. Drol wiped his grubby forehead with his snotty anorak. Reficul got out a purple handkerchief from his macintosh and wiped his moustache. He too, despite being known for his patience and tolerance began to get annoyed. The landlord and his two workers were nowhere to be seen in the pub, although the people in the room did notice three small mice frantically running around on the floor. Since the landlord and his workers were missing for over two hours, the people in the pub began to help themselves to the drinks.
Soon the builders began to sing wildly, while the students staggered over to Drol and Reficul's table. They curiously watched the card game which had been going on for almost three hours, and wondered how the tramp with the anorak could drink so much brandy, and how the hell the tramp with the macintosh was served milk in a pub, and most extraordinarily never finished. One of the girls bravely walked towards their table and pulled herself a chair. She accidentally crashed down the mountain of glass causing most of them to shatter on the pub floor. She was so drunk she didn't even notice or feel ashamed of what she had done. She lit a cigarette and peered at Drol's cards.
"Owigh' darlin'?", said Drol and he winked at her.
She managed a weak smile and said "Yeah, I'm fine".
That was all she said. Her friends who were part of the great audience kept standing, engulfed with fascination at the two tramps.
Another hour passed and the game still remained a close draw. Drol could no longer remain patient and he slammed his cards on the table, alarming Reficul and the students who had been watching them for the past two hours.
"That's it, I've had enough. We've been sitting in this stinking pub for almost four hours playing this bloody card game, and for what? A fat slob who just won the lottery and then died?"
Reficul sighed and said, "I think you're right, I've also had enough. Let us make it a draw and settle this matter right now. The deal was whoever won would take Tony with him, now that nobody's won we've have to make another decision."
Drol swore and he took another shot of brandy.
"You mean "the decision"?"
"Precisely."
"Fine, let's go."
And at that moment another white flash exploded into the pub, sending the students and the rest of the people in the pub on to the ground. This was another hobby of Drol. Whenever he transported himself and Reficul to another place, he would alarm people for days and send a stir through the area and the media about supernatural incidents in pubs or Red Light Districts with the massive explosions and the bright lights, particularly the one in the south of Paris back in April 1996, where many of the regular visitors avoided the place for a very long time, thinking that it was a sign or warning by the Lord, to end their lustful and sinful acts, such as activities with members of the same sex. Reficul had criticised him on this and warned him many times it would cause greater disruptions if this was continued. However, as always Drol never listened and always threatened him about destroying his eternal home.
Drol and Reficul were back in the living room. Reficul was no longer in his snotty macintosh but in his white gown, and Drol was out of the lice infested anorak in his black suit with the large Cuban cigar in his hand.
"Right, it's time."
Drol gave Tony, having more of the yellow ooze dripping from his mouth, a sharp kick in the ribs. Slowly the fat man chocked, showing a sign of life. He stirred and moaned.
"Right, this Tony guy is going to enjoy his life."
"Ah, anyone would be after winning eight million pounds."
At that moment the theme tune of Casualty played on BBC1. Tony stirred and began to get up with the loud familiar tune. After getting back to his senses he picked up the grimy ticket off from the floor.
Personal & Imaginative Unit
September 1987
Poem
I scream and howl,
I kick and punch,
I cry and spit,
It's my first day.
Daddy will come back,
Now don't you worry
While he's out working
Go and play.
I sniff and rub my eyes,
I walk towards the cars.
I sit down on the blue mat
And pick up a black taxi.
Little did I know the taxi "belongs"
To the king of the class
A big, fat and smelly bully.
I look up and there he is.
I get smacked and kicked
I topple and fall
I rub my eyes
And wipe my cheeks.
Do I be a good boy
Do nothing and cry?
Or do I be a naughty boy
And give him a black eye?
It was a day to remember
Of all first days,
And I still wonder
If it's worth being five again.
Personal & Imaginative Unit
The Garden
Poem
He looked down upon the small patch of grass
And said, It is time of war, pain and destruction
Never ending, where the strong rule and the weak struggle
I, and I only can resolve this to bring eternal peace.
I was the leader who brought together our starving brothers
I was the leader who killed our Queen
I was the leader who found victory in our soil
And it is I who will search for the wheat hidden in the Garden.
He glanced at their Predators and said to their leader
O fooled one prepare for another struggle lasting ten decades
Fought by the hungry and the weak in hope for wheat.
Prepare.
Personal & Imaginative Unit
The Kill
Poem
She gazed and signalled the final hour
The brown wings twist and turn for the turn
Soaring through the air, strong, stiff and stern
At this height shrinks Rapunzel's tower.
Revenge is sweet and sweeter this day
Shrieks and cackles begin the operation
Her claws shred, impacting horrific motion
After all He created nature this way.