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LIMBO
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
Assonance is the use of repeated vowel sounds to create a
sound picture. The sounds may be repeated at the start or
(rarely) the end of each word, or within the words
themselves. Remember, as with alliteration it is the sound
that is important, rather than the letter.
Assonance affects the way that a poem flows. It can suggest
the object or action that it is describing through the sounds it
creates. Assonance can also affect a poem’s tone.
Do be careful when identifying the use of assonance - there
are only five vowels, and their repetition is therefore
inevitable. Only discuss assonance where the sound adds to
the image being created.
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
“The plane swooped low over the open ground.”
In this example, the image of the plane’s low flight is
enhanced by the assonance of the letter ‘o’. Read the
sentence out loud to see the effect more clearly.
“The plane sw ooped l ow over the open gr o und.”
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
When you are discussing the effects that assonance
creates within a poem, you should describe how the
sounds you hear add to the ‘word picture’ that you see
in your mind.
“The plane swooped low over the open ground.”
The use of assonance here makes the line ‘swoop’
when read out loud, just as the plane is swooping low
over the ground, because of the rhythm created by the
use of assonance. We can almost see the plane
sweeping down and then up again, just missing the
ground as it does so.
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
Here are two examples of assonance for you to analyse.
Remember, assonance is often found within the words, as
well as at the start or end.
“The ants attacked Tania’s arm and
afterwards she ached for days.”
“The elephant edged ever closer to
the excited men.
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
Here are some possible ways of analysing these examples
of assonance.
“The ants attacked Tania’s arm and
afterwards she ached for days.”
The use of assonance here gives a picture of the ants
attacking the girl, and also the itching and aching that
she felt. Although we hear a variety of different ‘a’
sounds here, they all give a strong, hard noise, which
increases the sense of an attack.
Analysing Imagery - Assonance
What is Assonance?
“The elephant edged ever closer to
the excited men.
Here, the use of assonance slows down the speed
at which we read the line. As we read the line out
loud, we are forced to slow down our reading,
because of the stress of the ‘e’ sounds. This in
turn echoes the slow speed of the elephant,
moving towards the men.
Objectives
By the end of today’s lesson you will be able to:
 Understand the skills and
techniques used during this poetry
module
 Understand key ideas in Limbo
using these skills
Limbo

Two narratives going on:
1.
2.

The actions of the dance
The history of the people reenacted
History suggest the dance was
created as exercise on the
cramped slave ships
Slavery – not
knowing where you
are going – hell?
The rhythm of a dance
– the pride of a culture
full of rhythm.
Being caught in “limbo”
between cultures?
Culture
 West Indies:
 Colonised by
European
countries in the 18th century
 Slaves brought from Africa by
these European countries to
work in the sugar cane fields and
other crops
Surface Meaning
During
a customary
limbo dance the dancer
is reminded of the
history of AfroCaribbeans as slaves
Various interpretations of the
title
Many words linked with
violence and beating
Chorus provides shape and
a refrain, looking like oars of
a ship and the Limbo dance
itself
Limbo
Edward Kamau Brathwaite
And limbo stick is the silence in front of
me
limbo
Likens the limbo stick
to going in to the hold
limbo
of the ship which
limbo like me
takes them to slavery
limbo
limbo like me
long dark night is the silence in front of me
limbo
limbo like me
Articles (i.e. ‘a’ and ‘the’ ) are
omitted to mimic the drummer’s
beat
stick hit sound
and the ship like it ready
stick hit sound
and the dark still ready
Poems has strong
beat which suggests
the drum
limbo
limbo like me
Repetition of adjectives and
feelings of imprisonment
Limbo is a place which is neither
heaven or hell, it is a place for
people who have never been given
the chance to find god, i.e
unbaptised
Alliteration to draw
attention, increase feeling
of foreboding, echoing
drum beat
Many references to heat,
dark, water and other
‘hellish’ features
long dark deck and the water
surrounding me
long dark deck and the silence
is over me
limbo
limbo like me
stick is the whip
and the dark is slavery
limbo
limbo like me
drum stick knock
and the darkness is over me
knees spread wide
and the water is hiding me
First person
Singular used to personalize the experience
for the reader
limbo
limbo like me
Suggests a very vulnerable submissive
position
knees spread wide
and the dark ground is under me
down
down
down
Use of single-word lines to emphasise
movement and rhythm
and the drummer is calling me
limbo
limbo like me
sun coming up
and the drummers are praising me
out of the dark
and the dumb gods are raising me
up
up
up
and the music is saving me
hot
slow
step
on the burning ground.
The rhythm ends here,
completing the narrative
Who are these ‘gods’ and why are
they Dumb?
Poem’s pace slows where poet
suggests some sort of ‘salvation’
Final full stop is the only
punctuation in the poem
Ideas and Attitudes

Ideas:
 Although the limbo dance is now
thought
of as a spectacle for tourists, its history
comes from the exercises slaves used to do
to keep themselves fit on the slave ships

Attitudes:
 If the limbo stick represents the shackles
of slavery or life, then the dance is an act
of liberation and a way to be free of these
ties (figuratively and literally) (“up up up /
and the music is saving me”)
Feelings




Oppression
Suffocation and being overwhelmed (“the
water surrounding me”, “the silence is over
me”)
There is no real sense of anger at slavery as
you might expect but rather the sense of it,
like the limbo stick, is an obstacle that can be
overcome
Release / Joy (“and the drummers are
praising me”, “and the dumb gods are raising
me”, “and the music is saving me”)
Imagery


Simile = “limbo like me” – either join me in this
dance or I am in limbo
Metaphor:
“And limbo stick is the silence in front of me”
 “long dark deck is the silence in front of me”
 “stick is the whip / and the dark deck is slavery”


Personification:
“and the dark still steady”
 “long dark deck and the silence is over me”
 “and the water is hiding”
 “and the music is saving me”

Sound Patterns

Assonance:
“stick hit” (harsh “i” sound like something being
struck)
 “stick is the whip” (as above)
 “stick knock” (“ck” sound again like something
being struck)


Alliteration:
“limbo limbo like me” (musical)
 “dark deck”

Repetition
“Limbo” x
title)
“stick” x 6
“me” x 18
“dark” x 8
19 (including
Puns

“Limbo” =




A dance from the Caribbean
Place between heaven and hell
The place outside of heaven and hell where babies who
have not been christened go if they die
“Stick” =



The limbo beam which the dancer has to go beneath as
well as
The pole the slaves were chained to as they rowed the
slave ships
The stick that the slaves were beaten with
Imagine…



Imagine I am not the hard working, dedicated
(handsome) teacher I am.
Imagine I couldn’t be bothered to give you
notes on this poem.
Fill in the analysis grid, making notes on
Surface meaning
 Language (similes, repetition, metaphor,
assonance, alliteration, personification etc)
 Ideas, attitudes and feelings
 Structure (rhyme, stanza length, punctuation
etc)

Limbo by Edward Kamau Brathwaite
Surface meaning
Language
Ideas, attitudes and feelings
Structure