1. “November” A Poem by Simon Armitage
English 10 Wessam Kanes

2. Overview Poem Summary Annotations Key Literary Features
Personal Response
Literal Representation
Symbolic Representation
Tableau

3. NOVEMBER
We walk to the ward from the badly parked car with your grandma taking four short steps to our two. We have brought her here to die and we know it. You check her towel, soap and family trinkets, pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets and she sinks down into her incontinence.

4. You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive
through the twilight zone, past the famous station
to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol.
It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles,
in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness
and in us John: we are almost these monsters. 

5. Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin
Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin. Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing. Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.

6. SUMMARY
Armitage describes his and John’s experience when taking his grandmother to the ward one last time to die.
Themes:
Eventually, all of the leaves will fall off the tree.
Everyone’s end will come
Time makes us monsters
Death is inevitable. We have to enjoy life while we can

7. Annotations

10. LITERARY TERMS Alliteration Rhyme Tone Visual Imagery Ambiguity
Enjambment
Symbolism

11. Alliteration
pasty bloodless smiles, in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness
Armitage’s description of old age sounds even harsher
Sun Spangles
Adds lightness and hope in the final verse and aids the tone to change

12. Rhyme Rhyme #1 Rhyme # 2 Effect Creates Flow + pleasant to hear
You check her towel, soap and family trinkets,
pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets
Rhyme # 2
Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin.
Outside we watch the evening, failing again,
Effect
Creates Flow + pleasant to hear

13. Tone - Diction Elevates tone Depresses tone Sometimes the sun spangles
and we feel alive.
One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.
We walk to the ward from the badly parked car
Outside we watch the evening, failing again,

14. Tone - Structure “Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive.
Structure  6 Stanzas (5X3) + Couplet
Depressed Tone
Elevated Tone
Change in Tone = Change in Structure
“Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive.
One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.”

15. pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets
Visual Imagery
pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets
Parcel = Package
Package sent to grave

16. Visual Imagery Adjectives used to describe the appearance of old age
In their pasty bloodless smiles,
in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness
Adjectives used to describe the appearance of old age
Effects:
Much more interesting to imagine
Aids the readers in conjuring the image the author wanted to convey

17. Ambiguity
Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.
Punctuation - Death is a natural occurrence. We all have to get out of life and die someday.
We need to enjoy everyday and gain as many good memories ‘sun spangles’ as we can.
Purpose: Used to leave the reader brooding about which perspective they should look at things from.

18. Different Interpretations
Ambiguity
You're shattered. You give me the keys and I drive through the twilight zone, past the famous station to your house, to numb ourselves with alcohol.
Different Interpretations
Shattered: - Emotionally shattered rather than physically
Twilight Zone: - An old TV thriller show from the 60’s.
Twilight: - The light you get when dusk is falling or dawn is rising. John is confused. He is between the dusk or dawn zone. Not knowing if what he did was right? Maybe thinking he could have prevented it in a way.

19. Enjambment We walk to the ward from the badly parked car
with your grandma taking four short steps to our two.
We have brought her here to die and we know it. 
You check her towel, soap and family trinkets, pare her nails, parcel her in the rough blankets and she sinks down into her incontinence.

20. Symbolism NOVEMBER Title:
Denotation: The month of November is dominated by the season of fall. Within the fall season, the trees loose their leaves in preparation for winter. In winter the trees stop blooming and growing – ‘die’.
Connation: This is significant to how the author wrote about the grandmother who was being preparing to die.

21. Symbolism
Inside, we feel the terror of the dusk begin. Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing.
Dusk: Dark hours of night
Symbolizes  Death
As time passes by, we feel the terror of death begin.

22. Symbolism
It is time John. In their pasty bloodless smiles, in their slack breasts, their stunned brains and their baldness and in us John: we are almost these monsters.
Time makes us older. Thus, transforming us into the monsters of old age.
Symbolizes  Life span (Good and Bad). Causes - transformation to old age

23. Personal Response
This poem is one of a kind. It advocates the brutal reality of life and makes one think about their own life. Have they lived it wisely? How productive has their life been? It also emphasizes on the fact that one day we will all go. Although, this is something that people try to avoid thinking about, the author believes that accepting it makes life easier to go about.

24. Literal Representation
John and his grandmother.

25. Symbolic Representation

26. Tableau

27. Bibliography (Images)
November. Digital image. content/uploads/2011/05/november_field_3.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.
Cartoon Gravestone. Digital image. ages/rip_on_a_gravestone_ _SMU.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.
Grandma. Digital image. content/uploads/products_img/image-47.jpg. Web. 13 May 2012.