The Bright Lights of Sarajevo (Edexcel IGCSE English Language A)

Revision Note

Written by: Deb Orrock

Reviewed by: Kate Lee

‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ Analysis

Students studying the Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Language A qualification will study all of the English language poetry and prose texts in Part 2 of the Anthology for Paper 2 or for Paper 3, which is the coursework component. Students taking the full examination route will be asked to analyse one of the poems or prose texts, which will be included in the question paper. You will have one question to answer about one of these texts in the exam, and you will be asked to analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects.

The following guide to ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ by Tony Harrison contains:

‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ overview
‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ summary
Themes, ideas and perspectives in ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’
How does Harrison present his ideas and perspectives?

‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ overview

Tony Harrison is a British writer who wrote ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ as one of three war poems from the front line of the Bosnian War, which raged from 1992 to 1996. All three poems were published by the Guardian, as Harrison had been sponsored by the newspaper to cover the conflict. Harrison therefore witnessed the horrors of war first-hand, but also the determination of the citizens to keep on living despite their circumstances. The message in the poem is that love and life continue and can thrive even in the most terrible of times.

‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’ summary

The poem begins with the speaker listing the hardships of everyday life in war-torn Sarajevo, such as people dodging snipers while queuing for gas or for their small food rations. The speaker reflects that Sarajevo’s streets should be deserted at night, but that surprisingly they are not: young people go strolling at night, the darkness of the nighttime blackout hiding their identities and differences. Their forms are not defined, and all can collide and come to know each other.

The speaker observes boys who have to judge by the sound of the girls’ voices whether they are open to flirting or not. One couple look as though they are about to go somewhere nicer to get to know each other better, as they are currently standing on the craters of a fatal mortar attack. The couple go to have a coffee until curfew dictates that they have to go home, and they sit behind sandbags that were once full of flour.

Themes, ideas and perspectives in ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’

Paper 2, Question 1 will ask you how the writer has presented a certain theme, idea or perspective in the text, with a focus on analysing the language and structure the writer has used in order to convey this theme, idea or perspective. You are expected to support your answer with close reference to the text, including brief quotations.

What are the key themes in ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’?

Theme	Analysis
Resilience and the power of love	The visceral references to war are juxtaposed with the intimacy and the power of love: Love survives even under the most difficult of circumstances
	In the Bosnian city of Sarajevo during the war, the people lived their daily lives with the knowledge that they could be killed at any moment, either by bullets or bombs: Even so, the city’s youth come out at night to maintain some elements of a normal existence together The poem therefore portrays love and romance as a powerful, hopeful force
	The promise of love seems to transform the city at night, as the darkness does not feel so threatening and instead becomes a means for the men and women to flirt: It gives them courage and can also be seen as an act of rebellion
	Love, or the promise of it, embodies the resilience of the city’s people: It does not remove the danger, or hide the reality of war, but it provides spiritual solace and a sense of resistance, and therefore should not be something to be shied away from
The effects of war	The poem details the mundane routine of civilian life in a wartime city: Daily acts are made frightening by the ever-present reminders and possibility of death
The effects of war	War makes daily life more difficult, as the people queue for “meagre grams” of rationed bread and have to struggle up “sometimes elevent flights/of stairs with water”: The reminders of war are everywhere, in the “streets Serb shells destroyed”, the “blood-dunked crusts of shredded bread/lay on this pavement with the broken dead” and the “two rain-full shell-holes” These serve as an ever present wake-up call that their lives could be cut short at any moment

How does Harrison present his ideas and perspectives?

Tony Harrison uses a variety of language and structural techniques to present his ideas and perspectives.

Technique	Analysis
Title	The “bright light” of the title is symbolic of hope and defiance in the face of adversity: The light could also metaphorically be referring to the spark of romance experienced between the young couples, again emphasising how hope and love can overcome all
Form	Harrison rejects a standard poetic form, instead sketching out his observations as though he is despatching a report from the front line: This reflects the chaotic and unpredictable situation in Sarajevo
Rhyme	The poem follows a simple rhyme scheme: The rhyming couplets create a quick and flighty pace, as though the poem has been hurriedly written down from the heart of a warzone
Enjambment	The lack of punctuation in many of the lines of the poem convey the cumulation of events and necessities the people of Sarajevo must endure: For example: “or queuing for the precious meagre grams/of bread they’re rationed to each day” This conveys the tension and exhaustion that result from seemingly simple tasks
Symbolism	The symbol of bread as life is introduced at the start of the poem: Harrison then returns to it to convey the destruction of life after the bombing of the bread line The changing nature of the Sarajevans’ relationship with bread reveals the impact the war has on every aspect of their lives, even for something as commonplace as bread The poet also uses bread to symbolise ethnic divisions, listing the word for bread in Bosniak, Serb and Croatian: The darkness of the evening can hide these divisions, which were the basis for the war in the first place
Alliteration	Harrison employs plosive “b” sounds and sibilance in “the bread shop queue/and blood-dunked crusts of shredded bread/lay on this pavement with the broken dead”: The mix of sounds convey the chaos, surprise and violence of the massacre Similarly, the alliterative “death-deep, death-dark wells” sounds relentless, just like the relentless bombardment of the city
Juxtaposition	The violent imagery in the poem is juxtaposed with more gentle and romantic gestures, such as the boy who is about “to take her hand” to “share one coffee in a candlelit cafe”: This implies that such small, simple and gentle gestures can easily be taken for granted
Language choices	Harrison uses words to emphasise that there aren’t sufficient provisions for everyone: For example, “empty”, “meagre” and “rationed” The language reflects the people’s situation, as they are “dodging” and “struggling” Keeping the figures in the poem anonymous, such as “dark boy-shape” and “dark girl-shape” gives an unreal impression and suggests the safety of the night: This is ironic as most people assume that there is more safety in the light of day