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Joanne Burns Poetry Study


             "I have never enjoyed the concept of unity or order.
             How is this reflected in two of the poems set for study?.
             Unity and order is something that Joanne Burns doesn't believe deeply about. Burns conveys her true beliefs about these issues through two of her many poems. "echo" and "I travelled to the outskirts" -Such excessive fealty". .
             Overall, her dislike for unity and order is reflected in the poem structures as we shift from the issues raised in the poems to the lack of punctuation used by Burns. Each have there own ways of symbolising that there is no order or unity within the poem structure itself. .
             In the poem "echo", Joanne Burns describes 7 different people experiencing silence and their reactions to it. Burns uses characters in her poems to emphasize her beliefs and attitudes.
             In the first stanza the man obviously has some issues with silence. Whether he was experiencing the silence within his head or literally experiencing silence is unknown, but his choice to disrupt is socially unacceptable. This is the way he emphasizes his dissatisfaction. He clearly dislikes the orderliness of the everyday routines that we encounter everyday, making a disorderly statement against it. When he has succeeded in gaining attention and breaking the silence, he is content and "lets the police surround him like a group of bodyguards, he crosses his legs, sips his coffee and turns to the comics quietly".
             Joanne Burns takes time to slowly describe the minor things that we wouldn't normally take notice of. She highlights the fact that the man isn't just disrupting, he's disrupting to relieve himself from the undesired silence. He refuses to conform to social expectations and instead makes a loud scene in attempt to relieve his irritation.
             Attempting to conform is really a difficult task in which Joanne Burns tries to convey to us. The socio-cultural movement was an awkward one, with its members purposely seeking alternatives to the traditional society's beliefs, mores and expectations.


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