Decomposition (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Decomposition

Here, you’ll find a guide to Zulfikar Ghose’s poem ‘Decomposition’ to help prepare you for the Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of Ghose’s techniques and methods

• Historical and literary context: an exploration of connections between contextual aspects and the themes and ideas within Ghose's poem

Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Decomposition’ connects to other poems in the Eduqas GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology

Overview

In order to answer questions on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• An overview of the poem

• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Zulfikar Ghose’s intention and message

‘Decomposition’ overview

In Zulfikar Ghose’s poem ‘Decomposition’ a photograph of a homeless man on the poverty-stricken streets of India offers an opportunity to reflect on whether artistic observation, even if well-intentioned, only serves to dehumanise the subject. The title plays on the word ‘composition’ (a creative work). As the speaker considers their photograph (or composition), they begin to deconstruct it, concluding that creating art can prevent real human connection. 

‘Decomposition’ translation

Lines 1-4

Translation

• The speaker describes a photograph taken in “Bombay”, now called Mumbai

• The photograph is of an elderly, homeless man

• His shadow, compared to a “blanket”, suggests that it is sunny and also that he has become part of the landscape 

Ghose’s intention

• Ghose’s description of an elderly homeless man presents the disconnect between the man’s real identity and the way he is the subject of a composition (a photograph)

• A simile compares the man’s shadow to a blanket, which contributes to the idea that the man is seen as an object 

Lines 5-8

Translation

• The speaker reflects on how the man has become part of the street:

  • Ants walk over him and flies land on him

• The sun has exhausted him and has dried him out:

  • He looks like he is made of stone

Ghose’s intention

• Ghose’s description implies society sees the homeless man as embedded into the urban landscape and without human identity

• He is described as a “fossil man”, which presents him as decomposing:

  • This idea is supported with imagery describing “ants” and “flies”

Lines 9-12

Translation

• The speaker explains that the people on the street have stopped to watch a busker (a “pavement trickster”) who is performing for them

• They are so used to seeing homeless people that they do notice or acknowledge the “beggar”

Ghose’s intention

• Ghose draws attention to a desensitised society with the adjective “indifferent”:

  • A distracted state is implied: they are “passingly bemused”

  • This suggests society is quick to move on with their own lives

• Additionally, Ghose describes a city plagued by both poverty and a lack of compassion: there are many such “old men” who are neglected

Lines 13-16

Translation

• The speaker reflects on the photograph: at the time, they thought it was a good piece of creative work and gave it a title quickly and without much thought (“glibly”)

• The photograph was intended as a commentary on poverty in India 

Ghose’s intention

• Ghose’s reflective speaker realises that they, too, had been careless about the homeless man’s circumstances:

  • The adverb “glibly” implies this superficial, dismissive attitude

• Ghose suggests that artists believe they are exposing societal injustice with their art, but the process itself can lead to individuals being dehumanised

Lines 17-20

Translation

• The speaker describes how the man is positioned in the appearance of crying

• The speaker explains that the homeless man’s sad pose now seems to scold him (the photographer) for making light of his tragic circumstances 

• The speaker’s bold and arrogant decision to use the man as a subject in his art composition ignores the homeless man’s “hunger” and loneliness

Ghose’s intention

• Ghose’s final stanza shifts the focus from the homeless man to the speaker

• The image of the man, who appears to be “weeping”, brings a sense of guilt

• Ghose’s speaker reflects on the exploitative nature of taking a photograph of a suffering human simply to make art

• This stanza underscores the ethical responsibility of the artist as it reflects on the dehumanising effects on the subjects they choose to depict

Writer’s methods

This section is divided into three sections: form, structure and language. When you write about a poem, aim to expand your interpretation of what the poet is writing about by exploring how they present their ideas and why they have made the technical choices they have.

Focusing on the poet’s ideas and how they express them will gain you far more marks than examining individual poetic techniques. Look at the analysis in the sections below, which is organised by the main themes of ‘Decomposition’ and demonstrates the methods and reasons for Zulfikar Ghose’s choices of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

The form of the poem reflects the inner monologue of a speaker (a photographer) who deconstructs a picture of an elderly homeless man on an Indian street. The speaker’s memory of the photograph leads to a deeper understanding of art and its potential to dehumanise its subjects.

Structure

The poem is structured into stanzas but uses enjambment to recreate the continuous, free-flowing observations of the speaker. The poet begins by describing the subject of his photograph, but ends with an honest and humble personal reflection on the dehumanising effects of art that neglects human connection.

Language

Zulfikar Ghose’s description of an elderly, homeless man’s lack of humanity becomes a reflection on a disconnected society and the artist’s role within it.

Historical and literary context

Context offers you a different perspective on a poem and can enrich your engagement with it. However, examiners don’t want contextual information added on at the end of your essay, or even in your introduction. Instead, your knowledge of Zulfikar Ghose’s life should be used to explore themes and support an analysis of the poem.

The ideas explored in 'Decomposition’ focus on the dehumanisation of the impoverished, lack of identity, and the importance of reflection. Therefore, this section has been bullet-pointed under the following themes:

• Identity 

• Memory and reflection 

Identity 

• Zulfikar Ghose was born in India 1935, before the country gained independence from Britain and before the Partition

• In 1942, during the Second World War, the family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai), but after Partition they moved to Pakistan and then to England

• After Partition, both India and Pakistan experienced instability which led to widescale poverty:

  • In the poem ‘Decomposition’, Ghose writes: “how typical it was of India that the man in the street lived there”

• The poem centres on a photograph that intended to capture the “The Man in the Street”, specifically the plight of malnourished and disenfranchised people

• The poem draws attention to societal desensitisation and “indifference” to the poor and homeless:

  • Ghose describes the streets of “Bombay” and an elderly “beggar” who goes unnoticed by “passersby”

  • In this way, Ghose portrays the lost identity of the “beggar”

Memory and reflection

• Zulfikar Ghose’s work often explores the power of introspection and memory

• In ‘Decomposition', his speaker’s memory of a photograph leads to a personal moment of enlightenment:

  • The poem’s speaker experiences an existential crisis as they, an artist, discover ethical implications in their composition

  • The reflective speaker sees a photograph from a new perspective 

  • The speaker (an artist) reflects on their neglectful attitude as they treat an elderly homeless man as a subject rather than a human being

• Zulfikar Ghose’s work often blends magical realism with social commentary

• Ghose's magical realist style can be seen in the poem ‘Decomposition’:

  • A photograph the speaker recalls appears to come to life 

  • Ghose writes about the subject in the picture: “His head in the posture of one weeping/into a pillow chides me now”

  • The tragic image seems to “chide” the photographer

Linking the poems

The Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam asks you to compare two poems from the anthology. You will be given the text of one poem in the question paper, but you will need to compare this with another poem of your choice, one that comments on the particular theme in the question. It stands to reason, then, that it will be a good idea to understand your anthology poems according to their themes.

 Here, you will find a guided list of poems that work well together, and how they are linked by a common theme. Do remember, though, the list below is not exhaustive and themes and ideas often overlap.

The poems you could link with Zulfikar Ghose's poem ‘Decomposition’ are:

• ‘Origin Story’ by Eve L Ewing

• ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti

• ‘War photographer’ by Carol Ann Duffy

• ‘Dusting the phone’ by Jackie Kay

• ‘I Shall Return’ by Claude McKay

• ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ by William Wordsworth

• ‘Blackberry Picking’ by Seamus Heaney

• ‘The Schoolboy’ by William Blake

• ‘Kamikaze’ by Beatrice Garland

Sources:

Poetry Anthology (C720) (opens in a new tab)

Magic Realism in the Novels of Amitav Ghosh and Zulfikar Ghose (opens in a new tab)