Pot (AQA GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
'pot'
Each poetry anthology at GCSE contains 15 poems, and in your exam question, you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another from the anthology. As this is a closed-book exam, you will not have access to the second poem, so you will have to know it from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:
The meaning of the poem
The ideas and messages of the poet
How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology
Below is a guide to Shamshad Khan’s poem 'pot', from the Worlds and Lives anthology. It includes:
Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam
Overview
In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:
The poem in a nutshell
A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Khan’s intention and message
'pot' in a nutshell
'pot' is written by the poet Shamshad Khan, who was born in England but is of Pakistani heritage. Khan’s poem examines the way artefacts from countries around the world were brought to England during the rise of the British Empire and placed in British museums.
'pot' breakdown
Lines 1–2
“so big - they said you shouldn’t really be moved
so fragile you might break”
Translation
These lines introduce a long-running debate about moving artefacts from the British Museum and returning them to their countries of origin
The lines provide the reasons given by governments as to why historical artefacts cannot be returned to their original countries
Khan’s intention
Khan introduces the idea of an artefact as a living thing
The lines introduce a third person plural perspective by referring to “they”:
This is suggestive of conflict between the speaker and the opposition to the return of the objects
Lines 3–4
“you could be from anywhere pot
styles have travelled just like terracotta”
Translation
The speaker tells the pot it is easy to imagine it could be from any country in the world
The reason for this is that global “styles” spread to Europe as a result of Imperialism
Khan refers to “terracotta”, an ancient earthenware originating in the East
Khan’s intention
Khan comments on the pot’s lack of individual identity, suggesting it is the result of colonisation
Lines 5–8
“you could almost be an english pot
but I know you’re not.
I know half of the story pot
of where you come from
of how you got here”
Translation
The narrator tells the pot that although it could pass for being English, the speaker knows it is from elsewhere
The narrator feels half of the information about the pot’s journey to England is missing
Khan’s intention
Khan implies there is a suspiciously limited amount of information regarding foreign artefacts and how they come to be in British museums
Lines 9–13
“but I need you to tell me the rest pot
tell me
did they say you were bought pot
a looter's deal done
the whole lot
sold to the gentleman in the grey hat”
Translation
The narrator instructs the pot to tell its story, again referring vaguely to “they” as the people responsible for moving it:
The narrator subtly asks if the people who brought the pot to England actually paid for it
They refer to an auction (where people can bid for objects of value):
The “gentleman in the grey hat” represents a powerful European or British man
Khan’s intention
Khan refers to what she sees as a dubious narrative:
Khan makes a wry comment about the country of origin’s reimbursement for artefacts taken (suggesting this is not the case)
Khan’s use of the word “looters” implies the artefacts were stolen
Lines 14–15
“or
did they say you were lost pot
finders are keepers you know pot”
Translation
The narrator continues listing possible reasons why the pot has ended up in England
Khan’s intention
Khan’s sarcasm is evident in the child-like phrase, “finders are keepers you know”
She pokes fun at the people who took the pot from its country of origin and now believe they own it
Lines 16–18
“or
did they say they didn’t notice you pot
must have slipped onto the white sailing yacht
bound for england.”
Translation
The narrator continues listing possible excuses for the pot’s placement in England
The reference to a “white sailing yacht” highlights how artefacts were taken from colonies by white people
Khan’s intention
Khan’s list implies the excuses given are weak
The reference to the “white” yacht alludes to race, implying the colonists were of European or British background
Lines 19–24
“someone
somewhere
will have missed you pot
gone out looking for you pot
because
someone
somewhere
made you
fingernails
pressed
snake patterned you pot
washed you pot
used you pot
loved you pot”
Translation
The narrator believes the hand-made pot was made with care and loved by the owners
It implies that the pot was made by traditional methods
Khan’s intention
Khan gives a personal identity to the pot
The description alludes to family life:
She implies the pot meant a lot to its owners:
This suggests British colonists took others’ personal property without their permission
Lines 25–27
“if I could shatter this glass
I would take you back myself pot.”
Translation
The narrator speaks intimately to the pot:
The speaker refers to breaking the glass of a museum case holding displays of artefacts
The narrator wants to take the pot back to its original home
Khan’s intention
The intimate address presents the narrator’s frustration that the pot is in a museum in England:
This highlights the central issue of where this object belongs, presenting it as significant and emotive
Lines 28–29
“you think they wouldn’t recognise you pot
say diaspora
you left now
you’re not really one of us.”
Translation
The narrator questions whether the pot would be welcomed back to its original home:
The reference to “diaspora” links the pot to displaced people who spread out across the world having left their homelands
Khan’s intention
Khan raises ideas about displacement and migration resulting from colonialism
Lines 30–38
“pot I’ve been back to where my family’s from
they were happy
to see me
laughed a lot
said I was more asian than the asians pot
I was pot
imagine.
the hot sun on your back
feel flies settle on your skin
warm grain poured inside”
Translation
The narrator remembers how they were welcomed home after being away:
They describe a close bond with their heritage, despite living elsewhere
They ask the pot to imagine their homeland and how it would feel
Khan’s intention
Khan comments on the significance of expressing cultural identity
Khan uses sensory imagery, such as “hot sun on your back”, to present the emotional connection with home
Lines 39–41
“empty pot
growl if you can hear me
pot?
pot?"
Translation
The narrator is frustrated the pot does not reply
The poem ends with them asking the pot to answer
Khan’s intention
The poem ends with unresolved and unanswered questions
Khan’s poem suggests foreign artefacts remain away from their homeland
Writer’s methods
Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have.
Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the sections below, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Khan’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:
Form
Structure
Language
Form
The poem’s form is a reflective and silent conversation between a speaker and a pot in a museum, suggestive of repressed voices.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Belonging and heritage | The poem’s free verse form reflects the narrator’s reflective thoughts | Unrhyming and irregular line lengths present the speaker’s deep consideration of the artefact |
The lack of capitalisation in the title, as well as throughout the poem, subverts standard grammatical rules | Khan’s non-standard grammar reflects both the speaker’s rambling, free-flowing thoughts, as well as her ideas about challenging established traditions | |
Shamshad Khan’s poem depicts a migrant’s deep reflections, which present a challenge to unquestioned ideas in British society | ||
Structure
The structure of Khan’s poem contributes to its intimate and conversational tone, as the speaker addresses an artefact. This examines the pot as a living thing with its own cultural identity. In this way, Khan promotes themes regarding displacement.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Individual lives | The speaker address the pot directly throughout the poem: “you could be from anywhere pot”:
| Khan’s speaker forms a personal connection with the artefact:
|
The speaker anthropomorphises the pot:
| Khan shows the speaker’s sense of frustration as they try to form a relationship with the artefact | |
The poem is written in a conversational style, with the use of enjambment and a lack of punctuation | This gives the poem a conversational style, suggesting that the speaker has empathy towards the pot | |
By attributing a personal identity to the pot, Khan brings attention to the cultural heritage of artefacts in British museums and likens it to a migrant’s sense of displacement | ||
Language
'pot' is a commentary on migration, as well as British colonialism. The poem examines the individual’s sense of isolation resulting from diaspora.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Disconnected relationships | The speaker addresses the displacement of the pot:
| Khan addresses anxieties regarding an individual’s lack of belonging:
|
Contrasting verbs highlight the displacement felt by the speaker, who projects this to the pot:
| Khan’s speaker conveys mixed emotions as they speak to the pot, hinting at their sense of disconnection:
| |
Imagery is used to convey Khan’s ideas regarding colonialism:
| Khan describes their homeland as simple and sensual, while contrasting this with the wealth and power of the British Empire | |
Khan’s poem explores individuals who cannot connect due to their different experiences and misunderstandings in the world around them | ||
Context
Examiners repeatedly state that context should be connected to your analysis. Examiners ask for sophisticated contextual connections that are linked to the theme in the question, which means how the social or political context informs the writer’s messages. The best way to understand context is how the ideas and perspectives explored by Khan are informed by, or reflect, contextual aspects related to worlds and lives. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Khan explores:
Belonging and heritage
Disconnected relationships
Belonging and heritage
The poem examines a long-running debate regarding the displacement of foreign artefacts in museums:
Khan’s speaker wants to return the pot to its homeland, to “take you back myself”
Khan’s poem refers to an English museum (the pot was “bound for england”):
In 2022, human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson reported that the British Museum contained the highest number of foreign relics globally (8 million)
Khan’s frustration about foreign artefacts in British museums may be implied in the line: “if I could shatter this glass”
The poem was written as a commission for the Manchester Museum:
It specifically references a Nigerian pot featured in the museum
Khan speculates about how the pot’s journey might have been made, and the lack of choice the pot is likely to have had
In this way, Khan is able to comment on issues of identity, colonial practices, migration and the slave trade
Khan wishes to convey the significance of the cultural heritage of artefacts:
Her speaker addresses the pot as if it is a living thing and has its own identity
The speaker asks it to speak about its history
Khan refers to the way artefacts may have been taken from original countries during the process of colonisation:
The description of a “white sailing yacht” may be referring to this idea
Her negative description, that it was a “looter's deal done”, refers to a prevalent perspective that the artefacts were actually stolen:
The word “looter” originated in India and was used in reference to British settlers
Recently, debates have re-emerged regarding the Elgin Marbles:
The Elgin Marbles is a set of Greek statues dating back to the fifth Century BCE
The Greek government’s efforts to return the statues to Greece have continued for over two hundred years
The Elgin Marbles were brought to England between 1801 and 1812 by the Earl of Elgin, Thomas Bruce, who sold them to the British Government
In 2021 former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, refused to return the statues, suggesting they were legally owned by Britain:
A link could be made between this and the line: “did they say you were bought pot”
Former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, did not respond to renewed requests by the Greek government to return the Elgin Marbles:
Khan’s poem ends with unresolved questions and the pot stays silent
Disconnected relationships
Shamshad Khan was born in Leeds in 1964 and later relocated to Manchester
Her family heritage, however, is Pakistani:
Her poetry appears in a number of poetry anthologies, including Redbeck Press anthology, a collection of poems written by British South Asian poets
This poem explores the idea of being caught between two cultures:
The speaker refers to being in England, specifically in a British museum
The poem also comments on being “more asian than the asians pot”
Khan’s poem reflects on the consequences of diaspora on an individual’s identity:
At first, the speaker refers to displacement, “you left now/you’re not really one of us”
The poem explores the way an individual’s heritage remains part of their identity
What to compare it to
The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together thematically and practise comparing pairs of poems. Consider how each poet presents ideas about worlds and lives in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that 'pot' explores the ideas of disconnected relationships and cultural differences, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:
'pot' and 'A Portable Paradise'
'pot' and 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'
'pot' and 'Homing'
For each pair of poems, you will find:
The comparison in a nutshell
Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences
'pot' and 'A Portable Paradise'
Comparison in a nutshell:
Both Shamshad Khan’s poem and Roger Robinson’s poem reflect on the importance of cultural heritage and recognise disconnected relationships within their world. While Shamshad Khan presents an intimate conversation between a speaker and a foreign artefact in a British museum, Roger Robinson offers more unclear listener advice.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both speakers convey emotional pleas within criticisms of their world | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'A Portable Paradise' |
Khan’s poem conveys a reflective, emotional tone with free-flowing enjambment:
| Robinson, too, conveys the speaker’s tension in their world through enjambment:
| |
Khan’s speaker, although frustrated, finds comfort in connections with their heritage:
| Robinson conveys the comfort found in traditions:
| |
Khan describes the speaker’s homeland fondly, using natural imagery:
| The poet uses sensory imagery to similar effect: “piney scent” and “hum its anthem”
| |
The speakers’ emotional responses to their worlds convey an attempt to find comfort through their cultural identity | ||
Topic sentence | Both poems comment on individuals’ disconnected relationships with their world | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'A Portable Paradise' |
Khan’s poem depicts a speaker who senses disconnections within their environment:
| Robinson’s poem, similarly, comments on their world:
| |
Khan presents a frustrated individual:
| Robinson criticises the “pressure” and the “stresses” in England:
| |
Both poets examine powerful systems that diminish cultural identity and personal freedom | ||
Differences:
Topic sentence | Shamshad Khan’s poem depicts an unresolved, tense conversation about cultural identity with a pot, while Roger Robinson’s offers a solution to an undefined listener | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'A Portable Paradise' |
Khan depicts a conflicted narrator in conversation with a foreign artefact:
| Robinson, however, begins his poem in the middle of a composed conversation:
| |
Khan’s poem ends with unanswered questions:
| Robinson offers advice about how to find personal freedom in states of isolation:
| |
Khan’s poem conveys the frustration of isolated individuals unable to find freedom in their worlds, while Robinson’s poem presents an individual in similar circumstances, his poem offers hope | ||
'pot' and 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'
Comparison in a nutshell:
Both Shamshad Khan and James Berry present cynical individuals who feel isolated because of their cultural identity. Nevertheless, the poets comment on the comfort found in close ancestral bonds. However, while Khan’s speaker is frustrated and resentful, Berry presents an individual resigned to their experiences.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both poems present cynical narrators in typical everyday settings | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' |
Khan conveys the speaker’s bitterness about foreign objects in British museums with irony: “finders are keepers you know pot”
| Berry’s speaker is similarly ironic, conveyed through short sentences, without punctuation: “Snow falls elsewhere I said.” | |
Khan depicts the isolation of displaced individuals and objects:
| Berry presents similar themes by showing the miscommunication between a migrant and a Quaker woman on a train:
| |
Khan and Berry present the way displaced individuals feel a sense of isolation in their world in terms of their cultural identity | ||
Topic sentence | Both poems present individuals who find comfort in ties with their heritage | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' |
Khan uses sensory imagery to describe the speaker’s homeland:
| Berry’s speaker, similarly, conveys sentimental memories regarding their cultural heritage: “my father’s big banana field” | |
Khan depicts an individual who is reassured by family bonds:
| While depicting an individual on an English train, Berry also highlights the significance of heritage: “Where are you from? she said./Jamaica I said.” | |
Khan and Berry examine the displacement felt by individuals with more than one cultural identity | ||
Differences:
Topic sentence | Shamshad Khan’s poem describes frustration as a result of stifled voices and unanswered questions, while James Berry’s poem presents a speaker who appears to surrender to their inability to communicate | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' |
Khan depicts a bitter, yet silent conversation between an individual and a foreign artefact:
| Berry’s speaker, however, engages in polite small talk with a Quaker:
| |
The narrator in “pot” is sarcastic about the placement of foreign artefacts in a British museum:
| Berry’s narrator’s quick and witty replies suggest they are used to disconnected conversations:
| |
Khan’s speaker wants to “shatter the glass” but they repress their emotions:
| Berry’s poem ends without any sense of change in the narrator’s emotions:
| |
Khan depicts an angry, silent individual, frustrated with their world, while Berry examines a migrant who adapts to their displacement and accepts casual discrimination | ||
'pot' and 'Homing'
Comparison in a nutshell:
Both Shamshad Khan’s poem and Liz Berry’s 'Homing' consider the significance of cultural identity. However, Khan’s poem is a defiant comment on displacement, while Liz Berry presents a positive portrayal of integrating cultures.
Similarities:
Topic sentence | Both poems examine the significance of expressing one’s cultural identity | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'Homing' |
At first, Khan describes a stifled identity:
| Correspondingly, Liz Berry’s poem begins by conveying the struggles of integrating in a new place:
| |
Khan’s poem “pot” explores barriers that limit cultural expression: “I know half of the story pot/of where you come from” | 'Homing' expresses a similarly restrictive process of integration:
| |
Khan presents ties with one’s heritage as a source of comfort:
| Liz Berry, similarly, promotes the idea of maintaining one’s cultural identity:
| |
The poets both comment on individuals with rich cultural experiences that inform their identities | ||
Differences:
Topic sentence | James Berry draws attention to their speaker’s reduced identity, whereas Liz Berry’s poem is an emotional expression of an individual’s identity | |
|---|---|---|
Evidence and analysis | 'pot' | 'Homing' |
Khan’s poem depicts a frustrated speaker who expresses themselves in a silent conversation with a pot | In Liz Berry’s poem, the speaker’s freedom of expression is encouraged: “shout it from the roofs,/send your words, like pigeons,/fluttering for home” | |
Khan’s narrator expresses their anger with verbs: “if I could shatter this glass/I would take you back myself pot” | Berry uses emotive language to express a positive response to different cultures:
| |
The poem ends with unanswered questions, illustrating unresolved issues surrounding displacement:
| The poem’s ending offers a hopeful message about integration:
| |
While Shamshad Khan highlights an individual’s inner turmoil as a result of displacement, Liz Berry depicts harmonious relationships between a native in the south of England and a migrant from central England | ||
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