Q3 of 18 Page 107

Answer the following question:

Select a line that you find particularly striking, and explain precisely how Atwood has made it so striking.


The poem finds the sight of the suburbs abusing to the eyes. As they drive through the city, they observe the unimaginative idea of the city planners. All the houses were clones of each other. The trees were planted and maintained to follow a strict pattern. The roads were so leveled that it rebuked the dents in the car. Everything around was monotonous and lifeless. There wasn’t a hint of life or activity as there was stillness and no noise at all. The most striking lines of the poem are:

“what offends us is the sanities:
the houses in pedantic rows, the planted
sanitary trees, assert
levelness of surface like a rebuke
to the dent in our car door.”


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3

Answer the following question:

In stanza 4 to 6, which of the following adjectives in relation to the planners' actions: misguided, ignorant, futile. Which of these adjectives best describes the planners here? Give reasons.


 3

Answer the following question:

The last two stanzas of the poem have the same message; that in the end, the creations of the city planners will eventually amount to nothing. How does the poet convey that?


 1

Irony is a literary technique, or situation in which there is an incongruity between the literal and the implied meaning. For example: Atwood debunk the "sanities" in her contemptuous, gleefully ironic phrasing. She finds the order and sameness of modern life very immature. Pick up more examples of irony.

 2

The term "snows" from line 33 talking about people, real estate agents, in particular being blinded by a "blizzard", "snow" or "madness" is an extended metaphor. Explain.