Christmas in Windy Tree City1. The word 'demolished' means destroyed. The decorations are being taken down after Christmas (A)
2. The 'little bee people' are the Christmas shoppers who are likened to bees rushing in and out of their hives; instead the people are rushing in and out of shops, doing their Christmas shopping. They are moving quickly like a swarm of bees and are very noisy. They are like the worker bees in a hive that have a job to do. The people have Christmas expectations to fulfill with their present buying and don't question these expectations being placed on them. Their purchases are impulsive. (E) 3. The poet does not like Christmas because of the commercialization of the day and the pressure to give in to the hype of the celebration. The poet says 'my heart is darker', which contrasts with the lights and colours of the Christmas decorations. There is a sense that the poet feels Christmas is a facade, 'demolished in front of my eyes in daylight', a temporary state of kindness and cheer, a time when insincere promises are made, 'promising a white Christmas' and 'pretending to prance'. Therefore, he will 'remove myself to the beach', which contrasts with the 'white Christmas', to escape from over-exposure to the celebrations. The last line of the poem 'It's the season' is not completed, as one would expect, by 'to be jolly'. The poet's tone expresses disenchantment with the superficiality of Christmas in the city (E) BACK TO QUESTION BACK TO Y11 UNFAMILIAR TEXT Duffy, J., & Ford, C. (2006). AME Year 11 english workbook. AME for success, ESA Publications. |