'Death in Duke Street' (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note

Below is a guide to Edwin Morgan’s poem ‘Death in Duke Street’ in preparation for the SQA National 5 English exam. It includes:

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

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

• Understanding the poem: an exploration of the themes and ideas within Morgan’s poem

• Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Death in Duke Street’ connects to Morgan’s other prescribed poems for the Scottish text section

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 Edwin Morgan’s intention and message

‘Death in Duke Street’ overview

‘Death in Duke Street’, written by the poet Edwin Morgan, is a dramatic monologue (opens in a new tab) that captures a moment on a Glasgow street on which a man dies. The speaker describes the scene, the confused reactions of those around him, and finally the sad passing of the man.

‘Death in Duke Street’ translation 

Lines 1-8

Translation

• The poem begins in the present, taking the reader to a street in Glasgow where a man has collapsed

• The first eight lines describe the man on the ground and the reaction of those nearby

• The nature of the incident is not revealed, but is significant enough for people to “huddle” together as a small “crowd”

Morgan’s intention

• Duke Street is immediately described as “greasy”, suggesting it is dirty and uncared for, much like the victim

• Cars are then personified (opens in a new tab) as they “nose past” the scene, a familiar habit of curious people slowing down to see what has happened

• The list of items worn by the man in lines 3-4 reduces him to an outfit and shoes, overlooking the actual human within, while the list further emphasises his unkempt, dishevelled appearance

• The idea of the man being unknown is continued in the reference to “strangers”, presenting the victim as isolated and alone

• MacCaig then uses dialogue (opens in a new tab) written in Scots:

  • The Scots dialect creates a sense of authenticity, firming placing this experience in Glasgow

  • The dialogue is direct and matter-of-fact, rather than offering any emotional depth

Lines 9-17

Translation

• The speaker describes the reactions of others on Duke Street

• Notably, it is two young people who come to the aid of the collapsed man, offering comfort in his final moments 

Morgan’s intention

• The first young person, “a young mother”, is described as making a significant physical effort (“kneeling”) to care for the man, despite having a small child with her:

  • The fact that her “shopping bag / spills its packages” emphasises her focus is on offering support

• The reference to the “people” who “look at everything” links back to the cars that “nose past” in line 2: 

  • “People” cannot help themselves staring at others when something goes wrong, even when it as simple as a spilt bag of groceries

• The second young person, “a youth”, is described as “nervous” and behaving “awkwardly”, which underlines his naÏvety in such a situation:

  • This idea is repeated in his gesture of “wondering / what to say to him”

• Nonetheless, the “youth” is presented as quietly heroic by virtue of his kindly gesture in wrapping his arm around the man 

Lines 18-19

Translation

• The speaker briefly summarises the responsibilities of humans: we must not walk away from those in need

Morgan’s Intention

• “These” literally mean the two young people, now united in their efforts to care for the collapsed man

• There is a sense of inevitably about the situation: despite the monologue being presented in the first-person, the speaker adopts an omniscient tone, clearly aware of the man’s fate 

• The word “must” suggests a moral obligation to help a fellow citizen

Lines 20-27

Translation

• Here, the focus switches to the plight of the collapsed man

• He is conscious, but seemingly not aware of events happening around him

Morgan’s intention 

• The repeated use of “he” and “his” across these lines emphasises the poet’s shift to the man’s final moments

• His speech (“slowly and quietly”) is not directed at the young people and could instead be a prayer:

  • This idea is supported by the gaze of the man whose “eyes are fixed on the sky”, as he looks to Heaven

• The words “moving out” have a spiritual tone, too, as if the man’s soul is preparing to leave his body

• This “moving out” will take him “beyond everything belonging”, suggesting that when a person dies the connections to the living world disappear

• But the young people show a desire to maintain that connection for as long as possible, demonstrating love and compassion in the way they “hold him very tight”

Lines 28-29

Translation

• The stanza (opens in a new tab) break marks the death of the man

• The speaker references the sirens of emergency vehicles as they race to the scene

Morgan’s intention

• The “ambulance” is personified as “hungry”, underlining the inevitability of death

• The reference to “Only” relates to “howls” in the following line: those surrounding the men are there out of moral obligation, and are not grieving or crying

• The idea of “squares” is used to symbolise (opens in a new tab) urban Glasgow, with a further personification characterising these places as “staring”:

  • The word “staring” suggests a sense of passive helplessness

  • People can help, but they are powerless to affect events

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 below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme and includes Edwin Morgan’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

Edwin Morgan’s poem is a dramatic monologue describing the death of a collapsed man on a busy Glasgow street.

Structure

The use of free verse (opens in a new tab) and the present tense gives a sense of both reality and immediacy to the poem.

Language

Edwin Morgan uses vivid descriptive language to explore a range of attitudes to death. 

Understanding the poem

For the SQA National 5 English exam, it’s important to show a clear and thoughtful understanding of the poem’s themes and main ideas, as well as how the poet’s techniques and intentions help to convey meaning. This section focuses on two main themes that Morgan examines in ‘Death in Duke Street’:

• Death

• Compassion

Death

• At its heart, ‘Death in Duke Street’ is a poem about dying and death, and explores how people respond to this inevitable event

• The setting is meant to represent a typical street in Glasgow:

  • In this case, Morgan uses a real place to offer a sense of authenticity, making events seem more emotional as a result

• Despite its inevitability, death is presented as an event that people struggle to cope with:

  • In the poem, there is more observation than action, not because the Glasgow public are unfeeling, but because they genuinely do not know how to react

• The end of the poem deals directly with the death of the man, and despite the “greasy” setting, his final moments are presented as accepting, gentle and angelic

• While the “hungry ambulance” represents the living, the reader understands that the man is now unburdened and has undergone some kind of spiritual transformation

Compassion

• Morgan presents the reader with a typical, mundane street scene in which a dramatic event occurs to effectively test the compassion of those who witness the moment:

  • That compassion at first appears to be absent, for cars “nose past”, looking but not stopping

• The two young people, however, come to symbolise a quiet compassion in helping the collapsed man

• Neither are qualified to do so, but are motivated by a deep sense of moral obligation that Morgan suggests should be present in each of us

• Interestingly, the pair do not need to do much to demonstrate compassion:

  • Their simple actions in offering emotional and physical “comfort” are sufficient to a man whose remaining life can only be measured in minutes

• At the end of the poem, there is a sense that life in Duke Street will return to normal, but the actions of the two young people offer a poignant symbol of intrinsic human compassion

Linking the poems

Students often use Edwin Morgan’s poetry to answer the Scottish texts section of the SQA National 5 Critical Reading exam. If you choose, though, you can write your critical essay question on Morgan’s poetry instead. 

If you decide to write about Morgan for the Scottish text section, the final question asks you to demonstrate a wider understanding of his poetry. That means linking more than one poem together by focusing on his ideas and how he communicates them (his techniques). 

The six Edwin Morgan poems on the SQA syllabus are:

• ‘In the Snack-bar’

• ‘Trio’

• ‘Strawberries’

• ‘Love’

• ‘Glasgow Sonnet i’

• ‘Death in Duke Street’

Here are some parallels between the six poems, organised by shared themes: