Decomposition by Zulfikar Ghose
I have a picture I took in Bombay
of a beggar asleep on the pavement;
grey-haired, wearing shorts and a dirty shirt,
his shadow thrown aside like a blanket.
His arms and legs could be cracks in the stone, 5
routes for the ants’ journeys, the flies’ descents.
Brain-washed by the sun into exhaustion,
he lies veined into stone, a fossil man.
Behind him there is a crowd passingly
bemused by a pavement trickster and quite 10
indifferent to this very common sight
of an old man asleep on the pavement.
I thought it then a good composition
and glibly called it ‘The Man in the Street’,
remarking how typical it was of 15
India that the man in the street lived there.
His head in the posture of one weeping
into a pillow chides me now for my
presumption at attempting to compose
art out of his hunger and solitude. 20
‘Decomposition’ by Zulfikar Ghose
Textual Analysis Questions
1)a) In verse 1 (lines 1-4) the poet describes the subject of his photograph. Suggest a reason why the narrator took the photograph of the beggar. (1)
b) Read lines 2-4: ‘a beggar…like a blanket.’
Identify any two feelings which the poet’s description of the beggar might arouse in the reader. Pick out a word or phrase which you feel arouses each of these two feelings effectively, clearly explaining your choice. (4)
2) Read verse 2 (lines 5-8)
a) ‘His arms and legs could be cracks in the stone’ (line 5)What does this suggest about the appearance of the beggar’s limbs? (2)
b) ‘routes for the ants’ journeys, the flies’ descents’ (line 6)
Look at the references to insects in this line. What do you think is the significance of these references? (2)
c) ‘he lies veined into stone, a fossil man’ (line 8)
Say what the poet is comparing the man to here, and then, in more detail, explain how the comparison might affect the reader’s feelings towards the man. (3)
3) Read verse 3 (lines 9-12)
a) The poet describes the crowd’s response to the pavement trickster as ‘passingly bemused’, while they are ‘quite indifferent’ to the beggar. Explain the difference clearly in your own words. (2)
b) In verse 3 (lines 9-12) the poet uses enjambment (each line runs on into the next without punctuation). Can you suggest the poet’s reason for doing so, taking into consideration the scene which he is describing? (2)
c) Suggest a reason why the poet mentions that the beggar is ‘a very common sight’ (line 11) in Bombay. (2)
4) What two meanings might be understood by the poet’s title for his photograph: ‘The Man in the Street’ (line 14)? (2)
5) The word ‘decomposition’ in the title of this poem can mean decay, especially of an animal or human body. There is also the pun on the word ‘composition’, which is used of artists designing a picture. Can you suggest why the poet chose this title for the poem? (2)
6) In verses 4 and 5 (lines 13-20), the poet explains two different feelings he has towards his photograph. Show how effectively you feel he has expressed the difference. You should refer to at least two of the following: ideas, word choice, imagery, tone, sentence structure. (8)
Decomposition’
Ms Ruxton - English teacher 