STUDENT SCRIPT - Englisches Seminar II - Universität zu Köln

9 Roger McGough (b. 1937):
► (7)
New film. Now look, he’s fourteen.
"An Apology" (1979)
Work out the energy required Owing to an increase
To make him grow that tall. in the cost of printing
It could have been used this poem will be less
It could have all been used than the normal length.
For the good of the firm and he could have stayed small.
Make a note of that. In the face of continued
economic crises, strikes,
Age thirty. And the waste continues. unemployment and V.A.T.
Using his legs for walking. Tiring
His mouth with talking and eating. Twitching.
it offers no solutions.
Slow it down. Reproducing? I see. Moreover, because of
All, I suppose, for the good of the firm. a recent work-to-rule
But he’d better change methods. Yes, he’d better. imposed by the poet
Look at the waste of time and emotion,
Look at the waste. Look. Look.
And make a note of that.
it doesn't even rhyme.
10 Seamus Heaney (b. 1939):
"Act of Union" (1979) (1979)
Nieragden: ILCS 25
I II
To-night, a first movement, a pulse, And I am still imperially
As if the rain in bogland gathered head Male, leaving you with the pain,
To slip and flood: a bog-burst, The rending process in the colony,
A gash breaking open the ferny bed. The battering ram, the boom burst from within.
Your back is a firm line of eastern coast The act sprouted an obstinate fifth column
And arms and legs are thrown Whose stance is growing unilateral.
Beyond your gradual hills. I caress His heart beneath your heart is a wardrum
The heaving province where our past has grown. Mustering force. His parasitical
I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder And ignorant little fists already
That you would neither cajole nor ignore. Beat at your borders and I know they're cocked
Conquest is a lie. I grow older At me across the water. No treaty
Conceding your half-independent shore I foresee will salve completely your tracked
Within whose borders now my legacy And stretchmarked body, the big pain
Culminates inexorably. That leaves you raw, like opened ground, again.
11 John Agard (b. 1949):
"Listen Mr Oxford Don" (1985) (1985)
Listen Mr Oxford Don I warning you Mr Oxford don
Me not no Oxford don I'm a wanted man
me a simple immigrant and a wanted man
from Clapham Common is a dangerous one
I didn't graduate
I immigrate Dem accuse me of assault
on de Oxford dictionary
But listen Mr Oxford don imagin a concise peaceful man like me
I'm a man on de run dem want me serve time
and a man on de run for inciting rhyme to riot
is a dangerous one but I tekking it quiet
down here in Clapham Common
I ent have no gun
I ent have no knife I'm not a violent man Mr Oxford don
but mugging de Queen's English I only armed wit muh human breath
is the story of my life but human breath
is a dangerous weapon
I dont need no axe
to split up yu syntax So mek dem send one big word after me
I dont need no hammer I ent serving no jail sentence
to mash up yu grammar I slashing suffix in self-defence
I bashing future wit present tense
and if necessary
I making de Queen's English accessory
to my offence