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The narrative poem ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ is set during the Bosnian civil war of the mid
1990’s
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He is
one of Britain’s premier verse-writers, having won nine literary prizes, and some of his works were
performed in the Royal National Theatre, London
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The key
message of the poem is that even through horrible circumstances, love will always survive
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The boy’s movements towards her is described as a ‘flirtatious ploy’ and the
girls voice is described as a ‘tender radar’
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The juxtaposing use of a military machine to describe the couple in love displays how
the Bosnian civil war was close to the people of Sarajevo, so close in fact, that it became part of the everyday culture of the city, that is the poet’s message
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However, the reader thinks that people
in warzones are constantly in fear, and so they see their lives as strange, and contrasting to their
surroundings
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The rhyme scheme is very strict, ‘flights … nights’, ‘progressed … test’, ’away … café’
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This scheme is usually used in poems with
cheerful messages, and an interpretation of the usage, is that the poet uses this reference to make the
poem more uplifting, giving the message that the boy and girl in the poem are hopeful for the future (and
their future together)
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g
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I believe that they would do this as a defence
mechanism against the war around them, to distract and comfort themselves and each-other
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The author of ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ uses various structural techniques to make the boy and girl
seem unafraid of their surroundings
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Another example is the generous usage of caesura while the poet
is talking about the boy and girls love, ‘progressed beyond’, ‘away to’, with meagre usage of caesura before
the Volta, which is where most of the graphic war imagery is found
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Due to this, the couple are presented as a strong force, existing even within the awful situation
they are in, and their bond is strong enough, that they can brave their surroundings, and even come out
into the open at night together
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