 Hello and welcome to a summary of all you need to know about the poem Blessing by M.T.S. Darker. Now, I'll explain the meaning related to this poem as it appears in part 3 of the Pearson at Excel International GCSE anthology. Do bear in mind that in contrast to part 1 of the anthology which featured only nonfiction texts and part 2 which was a mix of fiction stories and poems, part 3 of this anthology exclusively features poems alone so in this video I'll highlight key language and literary devices used in this poem and you'll learn how to analyse it. So let's get started. Now what I will do is I will read through parts of the poem and stop every so often to highlight important techniques that you should be aware of. So let's begin with the first section of this poem. The skin cracks like a pod, there never is enough water. Imagine the drip of it, the small splash echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. Now the poem itself is called Blessing and this title is really significant because essentially what it does is it really shows how water plays an integral role in giving life but also causing death and this is emphasised through the opening part of this poem. Now I'm going to look at the first two lines in the first stanza. The speaker states the skin cracks like a pod and this similarly is powerful because it emphasises the water scarcity in this area and how posh the skin of the people that live in this area really is. There's not enough water. This is further emphasised in the second line of the first verse where the declarative statement, there never is enough water, essentially gets to the core issue of this water scarcity. Moreover, this two line stanza is an opening couplet and of course it focuses our attention as readers on the issue of water. Now in the following verse we're told to imagine the drip of this water and this imperative sentence puts us in the shoes of the people who are feeling very parched so they don't necessarily have access to water all the time and so they are fantasising constantly about it and we're told to imagine the drip of it, the splash, the echo and the onomatopoeia that's used here vividly shows how rare water is and how celebrated it is within this community. Now this community is anonymous but we can comfortably assume that it's very likely in a third world country where water and access to water is not freely available. Now in line five there's a reference to a tin mug. The pre-modifier tin shows how modest and rural this community is. Furthermore in line six there's a voice of a kindly God and this metaphor depicts water as a God. It has the power to take and also to give life. So let's carry on. Sometimes a sudden rush of fortune, the municipal pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground and the flow has found a roar of tongues. From the hearts a congregation, every man, woman, child for streets around butts in with pots, brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets, frantic hands and naked children screaming in the liquid sun. The highlights polish to perfection, flashing light as a blessing sings over the small bones. Now in this part of the poem there's this focus on how there's a sudden rush of water. Sometimes the sudden rush and the sibilance here, sometimes in sudden echoes the smooth sound of gushing water. Moreover the caesura here essentially highlights the vaultor, the turning point in this poem where there's a burst in the pipe and water starts crashing down on this community that's otherwise quite parched. Furthermore the enjambement after a sudden rush speeds up the pace of the poem and again it's showing the speediness of this water as it's crashing to the ground and the water is characterized as fortune and also it's described as silver crashing to the ground. Now this belongs to the semantic field of wealth showing just how valuable water is. Now we learn the reason for this show of water. The municipal pipe is bursting and this refers to basically a council pipe that bursts causing water to flow freely. Now in line 9 this water crashes to the ground and this is a really dramatic verb to show just how sudden and unexpected this good fortune is. In line 10 we learn the flow has found a roar of tongues and the alliteration flow and found emphasizes just how rapid the movement of this water is. Moreover there's a roar of tongues and the onomatopoeia roar and the common noun tongue shows how thirsty the people are and just how unbelievable this good fortune is for them. They've all rushed out and they're really excited for this water. Moreover there's the mention and the constant allusion to the poverty of this setting and the description or rather the mention of the huts shows that this is a very poor rural setting and it's likely in a developing country. Now there's the description of these people as a congregation and this is religious language like a religious gathering and of course again this shows just how integral water is and it's almost like a sacred gift that's come to them unexpectedly. Moreover there's a caesera which emphasizes how everybody comes out. There's man, woman, child for streets around and this listing and this listing through a syndetine shows just how rushed and frenzied they all are to come out and get a share of this water. Furthermore they are there for streets around and what this shows is that the action of going to get this water to fetch this water is ubiquitous within this whole village. Now in lines 14, 15 and 16 there's a syndetine used again pots, brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets and there's a syndetine once more highlights of rural domestic containers that these people use emphasizing just how remote they are but also how impoverished they are. Moreover they're described as frantic, having frantic hands and this verb shows how desperately they need water perhaps as a famine or drought that's caused the lack of this water. Now in the final verse there's this description of naked children which emphasizes our attention on the innocence and the youth of the children within this village. Moreover the enjambement gives us some form of pause as it emphasizes their innocence and in line 19 the description of them screaming in the liquid sun that pre-modifier liquid creates a beautiful but very dazzling image of light. Yet the sun however beautiful and dazzling it looks is actually one of the major reasons for the water shortage as stride out everything there. Now in line 20 these children are described as looking polished to perfection and the literation here emphasizes their beauty once more emphasizing the innocence and their beauty and their appearance. Now the water is described as a blessing and the blessing sings and the personification of water here as it falls on the body shows just how revered this water is how beautiful it is as it touches their parched skin and their parched bodies. However these children have small bones and the adjective small shows their rural poverty and it's very very poignant because it shows just how malnourished and poor these children are. So that's all if you found this video useful do note that we have an in-depth extensive course covering all the texts and poems in parts one, two and three of the Pearson, Edexcel International GCSE anthologies. So do make sure you sign up for this course for explanations on all the texts as well as getting access to model answers. Also check out our website www.firstreadtutors.com where you can find plenty of English revision worksheets, model answers and online courses covering all the major English syllabuses including Edexcel, AQA and IGCSE. Thanks so much for listening.