The Jewellery Maker (AQA GCSE English Literature)

The poem is divided into three stanzas that relate to aspects of the jewellery maker’s life:

• The narrative begins, typically, with a time marker: “Each day”

• Parker uses present tense to bring the story to life: “He walks”

The poem brings an individual’s daily experiences to life to build a vivid characterisation of an anonymous man:

• This conveys themes regarding personal identity

• It draws attention to the simple and traditional life of an unnamed man

The narration highlights how his work continues the family tradition, like “his father before him” and “his father too”

Parker shows the influence of heritage on the individual’s life

Parker’s omniscient narrator allows readers insight into the man’s thoughts: 

• “He imagines” the women who will wear the jewellery he makes

• He notes those women are different to his wife 

The poem explores the jewellery maker’s responses to his experiences:

• This explores attitudes to cultural identity 

• It offers the perspective of a silent individual 

Parker examines the life of a humble individual and the positive influence of close bonds of heritage in his life    

Free verse reflects the pensive nature of the poem

Through the narrator the man’s unrestrained thoughts are presented:

• This shows the man’s everyday activities are instinctive

• Enjambment contributes to this idea in the line: “He greets/his neighbours with a smile” 

Enjambment contributes to the sense of fluidity in the man’s life and work: The metal “yields/to his touch”:

• The rambling nature of the sensual descriptions relate to the man’s pleasant and creative life

Parker describes the man’s calm and simple life, which is filled with introspection and creativity

Caesura throughout the poem create pauses that help present the man’s disciplined nature:

• This also highlights images Parker draws attention to

• For example, “-neat as soldiers” 

The individual described in the poem presents Parker’s ideas related to the significance of cultural identity:

• He is described as calm and creative within his traditional life

Parker’s narrator takes readers on a flowing journey through the jewellery maker’s daily life, and perhaps, in this way, suggests a close connection with one’s cultural identity brings peace through its constancy

Parker uses sensory imagery, describing a “plate-blue sky” and “heat-baked stone”:

• Onomatopoeia with sibilance draws attention to the sound of “the slap of sandalled feet”

Parker portrays the simplicity of the man’s rural life, notable, too, in the description of a “wild dog”

Contrasting imagery highlights differences between the man’s wife and the women who buy his jewellery:

• His wife wears “simple” clothes and has “only” one “plain gold band”

• She is “wrinkled by the sun” 

• This is contrasted with the wealthy women who buy his jewellery who are “clear-eyed” with “unlined skin” 

Parker comments on cultural differences and divisions of wealth and opportunity: 

• Sympathy is evoked for a simple jewellery maker who wishes he could “drape” his wife in “fine-spun gold”

Parker brings a simple jewellery maker’s life into focus to show different perspectives in order to show imbalances as a result of circumstance 

'The Jewellery Maker'

'Name Journeys'

Parker’s narrator describes a jewellery maker and his close connections with his heritage:

• His life is traditional: his jewellery business began with his “father before him” and “his father too”

• He is dedicated to his work and his “deft fingers” work with tools “neat as soldiers”

Similarly, Mundair uses sensory imagery to present the rich vibrancy of her culture: 

• The speaker compares themself to Hindu deities with whom they have a spiritual bond

Natural imagery is used to describe the man’s creative and vibrant rural life:

• He walks on “heat-baked stone” under a “plate-blue sky”

• Sensory imagery describes the “hot metal” that “yields/to his touch”

Mundair’s speaker describes her cultural identity with vivid sensory imagery to connote to its “exotic” nature:

• Sibilance highlights references to “silk” and “sari-sisters”

• The speaker describes the “Woven tapestries” of the journey through life that has influenced her identity 

Parker uses an omniscient narrator to show the man’s concerns:

• Here, Parker draws attention to cultural issues as the man reflects on his life

• The man describes his wife’s sun-weathered skin and “only” one worn ring

• This is contrasted by women with “unlined skin” who can afford the jewellery he makes

Mundair’s speaker reflects on relationships that are impacted by differences in culture: 

• The speaker relates how their name is a “stumble” that “filled English mouths”

• Their language and their innocence was lost and “dislodged” as “milk teeth fell”

Both poems explore the significance of cultural heritage and its varying influence on individuals' lives 

'The Jewellery Maker'

'Name Journeys'

Parker’s speaker is controlled, narrating the man’s life in the third-person to create distance and reliability

In contrast, Mundair’s first-person speaker has a more fluid and emotional tone, in a reflective past-tense voice:

• The poem is a series of coupled lines that run sentences across stanzas to present rambling thoughts 

Parker brings to life an individual who is reserved and self-contained: 

• The jewellery maker is disciplined, sits “straight-backed” and works like a “surgeon”

• Parker presents a quiet reflection as the man “imagines” the women who buy his jewellery

• He silently fantasises about how he’d “drape” his wife in gold and decorate his house in “curls” and “loops” if he could afford it

In contrast, Mundair’s speaker offers a passionate challenge to issues of displacement: 

• She describes “infertile English soil”, implying barren and hostile ground 

• The speaker suggests conflict as they “toiled” to speak a new language and the English speaker stumbles over their name

• The speaker feels the “mystery” of their name and language has been “dulled”

Parker’s poem ends reiterating the man’s love for his work:

• Sensory imagery describes “warming” metal his hands “caress” 

In contrast, Mundair’s speaker expresses frustration in the final couplet:

• They allude to a bleak future in an “Anglo echo chamber” that is “void of history and memory”

Parker relates a story about an individual’s simple life that is rich in imagination and natural beauty, whereas Mundair’s poem presents a bitter and personal comment on displacement

'The Jewellery Maker'

'A Wider View'

Parker’s narrator describes, across three stanzas, the traditional life of a jewellery maker:

• His work follows in the footsteps of his “father before him” and “his father too”

The first three stanzas focus on the life of the speaker’s great-great-grandfather in Leeds in 1869 at a time of industrialisation:

• Third-person narrative describes how he worked “twelve hours combing flax”

The story of the man’s life is vividly narrated in present tense to further present a sense of tradition: “Each day” he “walks” to his workshop

The speaker, standing in the same place as their great-great-grandfather, is taken back to the past:

• However, this is described in present tense: “my footsteps echo”

Parker uses natural imagery to describe the man’s traditional life positively: 

• After “sunrise” he greets his neighbours “with a smile”

• The jewellery is described as alive: “bright dragonflies flap”, “gold butterflies dance” and “silvery moons wax and wane”

Seneviratne’s poem, similarly, celebrates heritage:

• The city’s buildings are personified as they bring the speaker closer to distant relatives

• They meet when “the red-brick vaults/begin to moan”

The speakers comment on the vibrancy of an individual’s cultural identity and how this brings pleasure to their life

'The Jewellery Maker'

'A Wider View'

The jewellery maker “imagines” the women who buy his jewellery:

• He wishes he could “drape” his wife in “fine spun gold” but she has “only” one worn ring

Seneviratne portrays an individual who take the long way home to draw “his sights beyond” “the limits of his working life”:

• She describes how he “craved the comfort of a wider view”

Parker’s contrasting imagery draws attention to the man’s struggles in comparison to wealthier people: 

• The “unlined” skin of wealthier women contrasts with his wife’s skin, “wrinkled by sun”

• The man’s wife is in a “simple cotton dress” but the wealthier women are “clear-eyed” and “bird-boned”

Seneviratne uses imagery to describe the industrialised city of Leeds: 

• The “smoke-filled sky” and “eyes dry with dust” connote to discomfort 

• A triple stresses the “the din of engines, looms, and shuttles” in factories that need to be “drowned out”

Both poems examine individuals who experience restrictions and limitations as a result of their place in the world 

'The Jewellery Maker'

'A Wider View'

The poem relates the simple, rural life of a jewellery maker, unnamed and anonymous:

• He goes through a daily routine, smelling the flowers and hearing the “slap of sandalled feet” as he walks to his workshop

Whereas Seneviratne describes a city’s famous and historical architecture: 

• The “Dark Arches” create a  “curve of past and future generations” 

Parker uses sensory imagery to present the beauty of the natural world: 

• The man walks on “heat-baked stone” under a “plate-blue sky”

Powerful imagery describes the city’s history as sophisticated and wealthy:

• The speaker refers to the “crown of Harding’s chimney” and “gilded tiles” of Italian buildings

Parker portrays the peaceful nature of a sensual and rural life, while Seneviratne presents the grandeur of an historical English city

    'The Jewellery Maker'

'Homing'

Parker’s poem raises the profile of a quiet and dedicated individual:

• The narrator highlights his skill (he is like a “surgeon”)

• He is creative and disciplined, working hard “each day” creating beautiful and intricate jewellery

In Liz Berry’s poem, the speaker wants to release an individual's hidden identity and “shout it from the roofs”:

• The speaker expresses their admiration for an absent listener’s accent: “I loved its thick drawl, g’s that rang”

Parker describes the man’s world with sensory imagery highlighting his love for his work:

• He walks on “heat-baked stone” to his workshop

• The “hot metal” “yields/to his touch” as his hands “caress”

Sensory imagery describes the listener’s cultural heritage:

• The speaker refers to a “blacksmith’s furnace” and the “red-brick of home”

• Onomatopoeia highlights the “railways, factories thunking and clanging”

Parker describes the man’s strong bonds with tradition:

• The jewellery maker follows in the footsteps of his “father before him” and “his father too” 

Berry uses a metaphor to represent the significance of heritage:

• The poem refers to homing pigeons, drawing on ideas related to belonging

• The speaker “sends” the individual’s “lost words” back home

The poets both present the perspectives of anonymous individuals whose heritage is an integral part of their identity

'The Jewellery Maker'

'Homing'

Parker’s omniscient narrator conveys imbalances in a jewellery maker’s world:

• The narrator tells us “he imagines” the women who buy his jewellery

• He imagines them “warming the metal” his hands “caress”

Liz Berry’s poem is an intimate direct address to a silent listener about the way they repressed their accent:

• The speaker says “For years you kept your accent/in a box beneath the bed”

The poem draws attention to contrasts between the man’s desires and his reality as a result of his traditional work:

• He wants to “drape” his wife in “fine spun gold” 

• But the wife’s “only” piece of jewellery is a worn gold band

The speaker draws attention to sacrifices made because of the listener’s accent:

• They had “hours of elocution” lessons with the “teacher’s ruler” on their legs

• They describe the “lock” on their language as “rusted shut”  

'The Jewellery Maker' examines imbalances in wealth and opportunity in a rural setting: 

• The man sells his jewellery to “bird-boned” women with “unlined skin” who represent Europeans 

• This contrasts with descriptions of his wife whose is “wrinkled by sun” and wears a “simple cotton dress”

However, 'Homing' explores disconnections as a result of attitudes towards accents within England: 

• The speaker is part of a group who notices the different accent: “We heard it escape sometimes”

• The speaker cannot avoid speaking in their accent at times: “saft or blart to a taxi driver” 

While Parker’s distanced narrator describes limitations in the jewellery maker’s traditional and rural life, Berry speaks to a silent listener about their repressed identity in an urban environment