1. Shooting Stars Carol Ann Duffy
Ian Yule

2. Context The Nazi Holocaust 1939 – 1945
Link to a particular place and time
Europe 1939 – 1945
The concentration camps where an estimated 6 million Jews met their deaths
“I sang the ancient psalms at dusk inside the wire and strong men wept”
Have we learned the lesson of history? “After the history lesson children run to their toys the world turns in its sleep …”

3. Title “Shooting Stars” – deliberately ironic
A shooting star is traditionally symbolic of new birth and good luck / fortune
In this poem the theme is death and the misfortune of the Jews during the holocaust
It is also the Star of David – the yellow star the Nazis forced the Jews to wear
It is also the mark a bullet leaves on the forehead: “stars on all our brows”

4. Themes Persecution – “acts of torture”
Bravery “ Upright as statues, brave”
Remembrance “ Remember these appalling days”
Passage of time “If seas part us, do you not consider me?”

5. Persona
One of the key ways Duffy explores the holocaust is to take on the persona of one of the victims.
The effect of this is to make the action immediate – we see the key events at the same time as the character
The use of first person narrative means that we also have to respond to this character

6. Reponses Shock – “they break our fingers” Respect - “brave”
Disgust – “One saw I was alive. Loosened his belt”
Horror – “my bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear”
Questioning – “How would you prepare to die, on a perfect April evening?”
Remembrance – “Do you not consider me?

7. Use of contrast
In this poem the women are brave, in the face of their singing “strong men wept” they are the victims of cruel men and they are to be remembered
In contrast men are aggressive, they “laugh” at the death of children, they rape women at the point of their death and they lack feeling “after the terrible moans a boy washes his uniform”