Tuesday 24 November 2015

Nil Nil by Don Paterson

  1. What was your favourite/least favourite poem? Why?
  2.  How did you feel about the collection overall? Did you like/dislike it? Why?
  3. Did you notice any particularly striking uses of simile/metaphor?
  4. Could you relate to the subject matter of the poems?
  5. How did you feel about the language used?
  6. Paterson uses some unusual words within the poems and as titles - would you have liked footnotes or a glossary? Did the lack of one affect your reading of the poems?
  7. Quite a few of the poems were written in the sonnet form - did you feel that these were successful?
  8. Did you get much sense of the author or narrator from reading these poems?
  9. Did you notice any recurring themes and ideas within the collection? 
  10. How did you feel about the title poem?
  11. How did you feel about the attitude to women in this collection?
  12.  Did the collection feel too long/too short/just right?
  13. Would you seek out more of the author's work?
Useful glossary:

Exeunt - used as a stage direction to specify that all (or certain named) characters leave the stage.
Heliographer - A device for transmitting messages by reflecting sunlight.
Perigee - the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is nearest to the earth.
Orchitis - inflammation of one or both of the testicles.
Obeah - a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic, sorcery, and religious practices developed among West African slaves, specifically of Igbo origin.