Postcard from Travel Snob

First thoughts
1. The poem decides two very different types of holiday.
a. What general impression do you get of each type of holiday? The first reference sets an image of your average holiday resort. The other however, portrays the accommodation as ‘peaceful’.

b. Which does the writer seem to prefer?
The writer seems to prefer the sound of a normal holiday resort, filled with drunken tourists etc. Looking more closely
1. ‘Wish you were here!’ is a cliché often used on postcards. a. How does the writer use cliché in the first line and what effect does it have? The writer starts the poem with ‘I do not wish that anyone were here’ this gives of a negative emotion. He has used a cliché but not a pleasant one, the writer has mixed it up about to tell the reader that where he is staying isn’t to be wished upon anyone.

b. What impression does the first line give you of the narrator’s character and mood? The first line gives of a very miserable, disappointed impression. It also sets the scene for the whole poem.

2. Look at the following lines:

‘When you’re as multi-cultural as me,’
‘Not like your seaside-town-consumer-hell.’

What information do these lines give us about how the narrator sees herself and how she sees other people? She is saying that she is multicultural and different from everyone else. However she stereotypes everyone else at the resort.

3. In the first stanza there is a dash in the final line. a. Why has the writer used a dash here and what effect does it create? The writer has used a dash here to give off a pause. This will make the reader take in what
the writer is saying. It also gives off a dramatic effect.

b. Pick out two other places where the writer has used a dash. Explain the effect each one has. There are dashes on lines one and three of stanza two. The dash on the end of the first line separates the line from the one underneath. The dash in the third line has been used as a pause.

4. Some of the words and phrases in the poem describe the people that go on the sort of holidays the narrator dislikes. a. Pick out two examples that describe these people and explain how they show the narrators attitude to them. ‘Drunken tourist types’ this is saying that people go on holiday to get drunk. The narrator dislikes this.