Midge Essay - 716 Words

â€Å"Midge† by Edwin Morgan is a dramatic monologue which tells an exciting story of a swarm of midges being rallied as they prepare to ambush a group of rambling humans in order to feed their eggs with human blood. This is a humorous poem about a seemingly unimportant event but which is rich in military ideas, told through an extensive use of word choice and humour. In the first stage of the poem, Morgan uses various poetic techniques to set the scene in the early evening by a Scottish loch. â€Å"The evening is perfect, my sisters. The loch lies silent, the air is still. The suns last rays linger over the water.† Morgan’s use of effective word choice creates a sense of peaceful tranquillity which is further developed with the alliteration†¦show more content†¦This is a rallying call of the leader to her troops. She uses energising imperatives to motivate them. One of the most effective uses of alliteration in the poem is the midge’s order to arrack human flesh, â€Å"the sweet flesh of face and forearm†. With Morgan’s use of ‘f’, one can hear and almost feel the midges suck on human blood. In the next few lines Morgan highlights how strong the maternal instinct is in the female midge, â€Å"Think of your eggs, what does the egg need? Blood, and Blood, Blood is hat the egg needs†. T his reveals to the midge, survival is paramount and continuation of the species is everything. This is developed further by the patronising reference to the male midge as only being good for reproductive purposes, â€Å"our men have done their bit it, they’ve gone, it was all they were good for, poor dears† Next the poem describes with vivid imagery the attack on the humans. The charismatic midge leader affectionately refers to her swarm of insects as, â€Å"†¦my little Draculas, my amazons†. These metaphors compare the midges to blood-sucking vampires and ferocious female warriors. Their attack leads up to the vivid image of the humans fleeing the swarm, â€Å"Their running, swatting, swearing oh they’re hopeless† This use of present participles reflects the manic movement of the group. Morgan makes a Shakespearean reference, â€Å"This is a midsummer nightsShow MoreRelatedEssay on Male Gaze in Vertigo1092 Words   |  5 Pagesfamous for her essay â€Å"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,† which presents an array of theories involving the treatment of women in films. Arguably the most notable idea presented in Mulvey’s work is the existence of the â€Å"male gaze† in films. This essay will examine Mulvey’s theory of the male gaz e in relation to Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo. 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