Phrasebook by Jo Shapcott: GCSE


Phrasebook by Jo Shapcott (1991)
I’m standing here inside my skin,
which will do for a Human Remains Pouch
for the moment. Look down there (up there).
Quickly. Slowly. This is my front room

where I’m lost in the action. Live from a war,
on screen. I am Englishwoman. I don’t understand you,
What’s the matter? You are right. You are wrong.
Things are going well (badly). Am I disturbing you?

TV is showing bliss as taught to pilots:
Blend, Low silhouette, Irregular shape, Small,
Secluded. (Please write it down. Please speak slowly.)
Bliss is how it was in this very room

when I raised my body to his mouth,
when he even balanced me in the air,
or at least I thought so and yes the pilots say
yes they have caught it through the Side-Looking

Airbone Radar, and through the J-Stars.
I am expecting a gentleman (a young gentleman,
two gentlemen, some gentlemen). Please send him
(them) up at once. This is really beautiful.

Yes they have seen us, the pilots in the Kill Box
on their screens and played the routine for
getting us Stealthed, that is, Cleaned, to you and me,
Taken Out. They know how to move into a single room

like that,  to send in with Pinpoint Accuracy, a hundred Harms.
I have two cases and a cardboard box. There is another
bag there. I cannot open my case-look out,
the lock is broken. Have I done enough?

Bliss the pilots say is for evasion
and escape. What’s love in all this debris?
Just one person pounding another into dust,
into dust. I do not know the word for it yet.

Where is the British Consulate? Please explain.
What does it mean? What must I do? Where
can I find?  What have I done? I have done
nothing. Let me pass please. I am an Englishwoman.
Questions to get started
  • 1. Why did the first Gulf War happen (1990-1)? Who fought against whom? 
  • 2. What new technologies made this war different from previous wars (e.g. Vietnam)? 
  • 3. What was new about the media involvement in this war? Why did news agencies come under criticism? 
  • 4. How was language used by the military and the media to manipulate those at home?

Other links to help you
What is a phrasebook?
The Gulf War on TV: Wolf Blitzer and CNN
View from a precision smart bomb with camera in nose
What was Desert Storm?

Context 

During the first Gulf War in 1990-1, a coalition including British and US forces forced the invading Iraqi army out of Kuwait. The war was characterised by aerial-enabled bombardment, hence the mention of pilots and the technology at their disposal. Since the Vietnam war, people were used to seeing war on TV but this was war taken to another level - live feeds shown on TV allowed people to sit in their living rooms, watching bombs reach their targets. At the time, the media were criticised for turning their depictions of the war into overly-patriotic narratives rather than impartial reports. For example, CNN gave the war 24 hr coverage – this level of exposure is one reason why the narrator feels like the war is in her front room. 

Content/ Narrative 

A woman is watching TV coverage of the first Gulf War in 1990-1. She doesn’t seem comfortable with the English language and the terms used to describe military action confuse her even further. She thinks about love and its relevance in a time of war. 

Purpose 

If you feel confused by this poem, don’t worry – that’s the point! The poem is critical of the language choices made by news agency and the military to talk about death and destruction. The poet is angry that important things in life like truth and love become impossible in this type of coverage of war. 

Language 

This poem is about how language itself works!  
  • - The title ‘Phrasebook’ makes us think of a list of language terms needed by someone who is visiting another country as a tourist, rather than getting to know it well.  
  • - The narrator is reading a number of phrases given in the book but she doesn’t understand them. We know this because she uses English incorrectly. She links lots of words which mean opposite things which work like oxymorons because they make the reader question what is being said, ‘You are right. You are wrong. Things are going well (badly).’  
  • - The poet says that she got the phrases from a real phrasebook to show how useless many of them are ‘I cannot open my case – look out, the lock is broken’.  
  • - Even though we are English speakers, we still need a phrasebook to tell us what the words in the poem mean. 

Military terminology is jargon which only specialists understand: 
  • - Acronyms for military manoeuvres and technology – J-Stars, BLISS, S-LAR, Kill Box 
  • - Stealthed, Cleaned, Taken Out – euphemisms for successful missions i.e. death 
  • - Pinpoint Accuracy – media words to celebrate success and inspire patriotism 

Irony: Even though the word ‘BLISS’ is an acronym taught to pilots to help them kill, it is ironic because instead of making the reader think of death, it makes the narrator thinks of past romantic encounters. She thinks about these encounters as being joyful - ‘he even balanced me in the air’. Is the euphoria that the pilots feel on achieving the ‘Pinpoint Accuracy’ similar to the euphoria of love? 

Present tense is used to make the reader feel involved in the narrator’s thought process ‘I’m lost in the action, live from a war on screen’, just as she is involved in the war. We are a long way away from the narrator (in time and space) just as she is a long way from the war itself. 

Form 

The poem is presented in the form of a monologue – the narrator seems confident about her observations of war but she shows her feelings of confusion at the same time. 

Structure 

  • - The poem is presented in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each (quatrains) which are blank verse with no rhyme.  
  • - The lines follow the patterns of speech and thought. This shows the natural way in which the woman is thinking in her head.
  • - Some stanzas are end-stopped, others are not. This shows some clear thought and some unclear thought.  
  • - The lack of regular rhyme and rhythm and frequent use of enjambment shows the confusion and disorientation of the narrator more clearly. Nothing can really be put in any kind of order, although she tries. 

Rhetorical questions structure the poem: lines 7-8 ‘Am I disturbing you?’ and line 28 ‘have I done enough?’ are questions to the reader. In between the questions, the narrator intends to shock the reader about the reality and heartless nature of war. The rapid questions in the last stanza are confusing – some from phrase book and some naturally occurring – these are meant to increase our sense of disorientation – war and the coverage of war brings only more questions. 

Revision/Study essay questions about the poem

1. How does the writer use language and structure to show that the narrator is confused?

2. Read the poem 'Boat Stealing' again. What effect does the conflict in both 'Boat Stealing' and 'Phrasebook' have on the narrator?

3. Compare 'Phrasebook' with 'Lament'. What similarities and differences are there in the way that each poem deals with the same war?



Location: London, UK

Comments

Mir Hassan said…
one of the best websites that provide great information
21 April 2023 at 06:03
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