Trio by Edwin Morgan
Trio Essay
Edwin Morgan’s poem ‘trio’ is about a moment where Morgan saw a man and two girls walking in Glasgow, down Buchanan Street in the cold at Christmas time. In the poem Morgan uses different poetic techniques like his specific word choice clever punctuation to show his emotions about this moment and how memorable it was. He also uses techniques like figurative language, not just to tell us about his experience but to also explain a deeper comment about life which is that no matter how bad things get you can always find a moment of clarity and peace and that the happiness makes all our troubles no longer frightening. In the poem ‘trio’ Edwin Morgan also uses repetition and allusion to show us how memorable and meaningful this experience was to him.
The unusual punctuation used in this poem helps to show how brief this moment was. This helps to emphasise how much of an impact this has made on him and how it has inspired him to write a poem about it. It shows that this was more than an everyday occurrence as there are many more emotions he has felt. The majority of the poem is enclosed as a parenthesis between ‘under the Christmas lights –‘ and ‘-and the three has passed’. Another clever use of punctuation Morgan has used is the brackets around ‘(and the three have passed, vanished in the crowd, for in their arms they wind the life of men and beasts, and music, the laughter ringing round them like a guard)’ the brackets are the guard of laughter protecting them. Nothing bad can get to them as their happiness is protection.
Morgan also uses allusion to show the other thoughts he had at that moment and the extreme emotions he felt due to his experience. In the poem it says ‘whether Christ is born’ using Christ alludes to Christmas and the time of year that this is happening, this time of year is joyful and happy which are both emotions that Edwin Morgan had felt. In ‘trio’ Morgan also uses the adjective ‘orphean’ to describe a sprig of mistletoe. Using
Edwin Morgan’s poem ‘trio’ is about a moment where Morgan saw a man and two girls walking in Glasgow, down Buchanan Street in the cold at Christmas time. In the poem Morgan uses different poetic techniques like his specific word choice clever punctuation to show his emotions about this moment and how memorable it was. He also uses techniques like figurative language, not just to tell us about his experience but to also explain a deeper comment about life which is that no matter how bad things get you can always find a moment of clarity and peace and that the happiness makes all our troubles no longer frightening. In the poem ‘trio’ Edwin Morgan also uses repetition and allusion to show us how memorable and meaningful this experience was to him.
The unusual punctuation used in this poem helps to show how brief this moment was. This helps to emphasise how much of an impact this has made on him and how it has inspired him to write a poem about it. It shows that this was more than an everyday occurrence as there are many more emotions he has felt. The majority of the poem is enclosed as a parenthesis between ‘under the Christmas lights –‘ and ‘-and the three has passed’. Another clever use of punctuation Morgan has used is the brackets around ‘(and the three have passed, vanished in the crowd, for in their arms they wind the life of men and beasts, and music, the laughter ringing round them like a guard)’ the brackets are the guard of laughter protecting them. Nothing bad can get to them as their happiness is protection.
Morgan also uses allusion to show the other thoughts he had at that moment and the extreme emotions he felt due to his experience. In the poem it says ‘whether Christ is born’ using Christ alludes to Christmas and the time of year that this is happening, this time of year is joyful and happy which are both emotions that Edwin Morgan had felt. In ‘trio’ Morgan also uses the adjective ‘orphean’ to describe a sprig of mistletoe. Using