The City Planners: Margaret Atwood

FROM STANZA ONE

What are your impressions of the suburbs described in the first stanza? Make sure you have evidence from the stanza to support your points.

The first thing that comes to my head when I read the first stanza is an image of Privet Drive - you know, the one from Harry Potter.

The street is obviously lined with homes ("residential streets"). There are trees planted perhaps periodically along the street ("levelness of surface") around which not a leaf nor a fallen twig lie ("sanitary"). The trees are tall, with thick barks and a dense tapestry, perhaps something akin to oak trees ("assert"). The entire atmosphere of the street is quiet and dull ("no shouting here", "nothing more abrupt") and the only sounds that can be heard are monotonous and dragging ("rational whine"). Even the non-living components of the street lack a certain identity ("discouraged grass") and despite it being a Sunday, which is normally a day of rest and play, no people can be seen in the vicinity (no mention of people in the entire stanza).

What evidence is there to suggest that the speaker is an outsider looking in? Consider the first two lines and also the significance of the dent in the speaker’s car door. What does the word ‘rebuke’ refer to?

The use of the word "cruising" gives the impression that the poet is simply visiting or driving through the "residential Sunday street". Since it is a Sunday, we can assume that the poet decided to go for a drive and ended up visiting the street in question.

Secondly, the poet regards the dent in their car door a form of rebuke to the orderliness of the street. Everything on the street seems to be conformed and tamed, and so the presence of the dent in her car door signifies that she does not in fact belong to the street, because if she did, the dent would have been smoothed out or - perhaps - nonexistent.

Lastly, the poet very objectively describes the street in the first stanza. She describes everything about the sanity of the street that offends her as if she has never encountered any of it before - the last four lines make her sound bewildered at the silence and drabness of the street, giving her the air of an outsider looking at the street for the very first time.

Lines 5-8
the houses in pedantic rows, the planted
sanitary trees, assert
levelness of surface like a rebuke
to the dent in our car door.

The word "rebuke" in this context refers to the discrepancy in the environment of the street caused by the dent in the car door of the poet. It sounds like the pedantic nature of the street rebels against this slight disturb in order that the dent has caused, and in this rebellion their sameness becomes even more pronounced, perhaps even powerful as they 'assert' themselves over the dent.

Make a list of the words/phrases that capture the speaker’s disapproving tone and comment on the precise effects created.

Lines 3-4: What offends us is/the sanities;

This is the first of many phrases in which the poet begins to express her dislike towards the sameness and consistency of the street. The verb offends is used to signify that the poet is very personally put off by what she sees, almost as if the street has become this way just to tease her and the dent in her car door.

This phrase immediately lets us know that the poem we are about to read isn't going to be a positive one. The phrase is a phrase of complaint and frustration, a bold cry of rebellion against conformity, which without delay fills us in on the true views of the poet.

In line 4 we are told directly what the poet claims to be offended by: the sanities that she sees around herself. This is a very odd concept, that someone should be offended by sanities, because aren't sanities and sameness and consistency what keep us sane? But in this case, the sanities are driving the poet round the bend, which gives us the impression that the poet has a very peculiar mind.

She has the mind of a rebel, sporting a tone much like the one Boey Kim Cheng uses in his poem, The Planners. She has the natural tendency to rebel against conformity, which is evident by the fact that she immediately starts off by stating that she is offended, instead of first outlining the general appearance of the street.  

Line 6: assert ; Line 7: rebuke

The use of the word 'assert' in relation to the 'planted sanitary trees' is a personification. The trees are given the attitude of dominance, and a vivid image is created of tall, looming trees frowning down on the poet in her car.

The word 'rebuke' is another personification. The poet gives the trees the power to reject the poet in her car, because she does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into a calm pond: the ripples created by the disturb in surface tension is what the assertive trees are reacting to.

Lines 9-11
No shouting here, or
shatter of glass; nothing more abrupt

than the rational whine of a power mower

The immediate effect created by these lines is the impression of silence upon the street. 'No shouting here' signifies that despite it being a Sunday, there are no children in the lawns playing in the grass and chasing each other, making the sounds of a happy evening. Despite it being a Sunday, no sounds can be heard at all, nothing spontaneous (abrupt) or surprising or new. Nothing even destructive or exciting, like the shatter of glass.

Even if by chance someone decides to use a power mower - which is a kind of lawn mower and would therefore make a significant amount of noise - the only sounds it makes are that of a rational whine.

Here, the poet once again personifies the power mower, giving it the quality of being logical and reasonable (rational) even in its whining. It gives us the impression that the sameness of the street has by now smothered even the loud power mower, until the mower in its obedience does not disrupt the levelness of surface that the trees strive to assert.

How do other words in the stanza convey the soulless atmosphere of the suburb?

'no shouting' à no children playing about

'no shatter of glass' à no excitement or surprises
'nothing more abrupt' à no spontaneity present, not even in the lawn mower
'the discouraged grass' à personification, depicts even the grass as having given up

FROM STANZA TWO

Consider the contrast between the first and second stanzas. What can be made of the driveways that ‘neatly / sidestep hysteria / by being even’? What do the words ‘sanities’ and ‘hysteria’ have in common? And how are they different?

The second stanza starts off with 'But', giving an immediate contrast to what the poet has pointed out in the first stanza. While in the first, the poet has outlines the ways in which she finds the street pedantic, consistent and boring, in the second stanza she ventures on to say that perhaps there are still some parts of the street that retain its spontaneity.

The poet points out in lines 13-15 that the driveways neatly sidestep hysteria by being even. In the first stanza she claims that she is offended by the sanities of the street. What both of these words have in common is that they both refer to a very extreme state of mind, hence showing that once again the poet has personified certain aspects of the street, because streets don't have minds and nor do they have the ability to remain sane or go hysterical.

While sanity can be defined as the ability of a mind to remain rational and sensible, hysteria refers to the complete loss of control and senseless state of panic. These two words form a very big contrast between the two stanzas. At first, the poet claims that the street is too sane for her. However she then goes on the point out that the linear driveways almost lose control over themselves. In this vivid imagery the street seems to be vibrating with opposing forces, forces that only the poet can see.

Link the 'certain things' to what the speakers say they do in stanza three. Consider the effectiveness of the concise line 'certain things' and its positioning within the stanza.

The poet claims that the certain things she has mentioned in stanza two (smell of spilt oil, splash of paint, a poised plastic hose) "give momentary access to/the landscape behind or under/the future cracks in the plaster". She then goes on to predict a time when the houses will capsize and slide into clay seas, a future that she is sure nobody else notices.

In stanza two, after the poet points out two more things about the streets (that their driveways neatly sidestep hysteria, and their roots all display the same slant), then come the words certain things. They have a line to themselves and end with a colon, used to foreshadow the items that the poet is about to list down. Their individuality also calls attention to them, signaling that the things that come after the colon and going to be contrasting the first four lines of the stanza.

In a way, while the first stanza speaks of the sanities that offend the poet, and the third stanza talks about the hysteria hidden underneath the surface, the second stanza shows a clear transition between the two themes. This transition is pioneered by the line certain things.

List these 'certain things' and consider the words and sounds used to describe them.

Four certain things are mentioned by the poet:

·         the smell of spilt oil a faint
sickness lingering in the garages

Here we find the use of alliteration in the sound 's' (the smell of spilt oil a faint/sickness). The smell of the spillage is considered sickening, signifying that the poet considered sickness to be one of the things that disrupts the order and form of consistency in the street.

·         a splash of paint on brick surprising as a bruise

Alliteration in the sound 'b' is used (brick/bruise). The splash of paint mentioned here continues the idea of a mess that sprung up from the mention of spilt oil. A splash of paint could be the residue of a mess created by a past experience, a fun memory, and once again this signifies that according to the poet, fun is another thing that disrupts the linear consistency of the street.

·         a plastic hose poised in a vicious
coil;…

Alliteration in the sound 'p' (plastic, poised). The poet personifies the plastic hose, likening it to a snake poised, vicious and ready to strike. When we actually look at a gardening hose, it wouldn't seem vicious or threatening at all, but according to the poet even the sight of something as mundane as a hose can be likened to a snake when compared to its calm and perfect surroundings. We are now becoming familiar with the incredulity that the poet has been trying to express towards the street.

·         …; even the too-fixed stare of the wide windows

Personification once again, this time of the wide windows that the poet likens to the stare of eyes that never blink. Here the fact that is being exemplified is that even though the windows are wide, either the curtain have been drawn shut (signifying antisocial tendencies) or the curtains are drawn open and nobody is looking out. The poet is very clear in pointing out that she sees no people at all on the street. Perhaps this is why she personifies unanimated objects instead.

A "too-fixed stare" can also call to mind the eyes of a dull or even dead person. We can hence conclude that according to the poet, the street is either dull, or dead.

FROM STANZA THREE

Discuss the image of nature presented in this stanza, commenting closely on the effects of key words.

The idea of nature's role in this stanza kicks off with the mention of landscape behind cracked plaster. These words are used to create the idea of a greener, fuller and perhaps even livelier street that is hiding behind a layer of plaster. We are encouraged to imagine bits of green peeking through cracks in the plaster, and that these cracks grow with time so that eventually (and hopefully) the layer of plaster collapses altogether.

Nature is referred once again later in this stanza, as "clay seas". The poet says that when the cracks in the plaster develop, the houses that she finds so offensive will capsize (be upturned, destroyed, ruined) and slide down into clay seas. Now with the words 'clay seas' she is encouraging us to visualize a vast expanse of area in which a destroyed house is dumped - namely, a wasteland. So what she is trying to get across is that the only way to cure the street of its sanities, is to destroy and get rid of it completely.

The last reference to nature is made in the phrases "gradual as glaciers/that right now nobody notices". This idea could be directly linked to the polar ice cap scenario in today's world, caused by global warming. The polar ice caps have been slowly melting and shrinking, but this is a very gradual process that requires intense observation by global warming specialists.

In the same way, the poet refers to herself as the only observer in the capsizing of houses, because it is a slow process that right now nobody notices. Notice how she says 'nobody' instead of 'nobody else', because she does not consider herself part of this community, merely an outsider looking in.

FROM STANZAS FOUR-SIX

What attitude towards The Planners is revealed in the descriptions in these stanzas?

The Planners are described to have 'insane faces' likened to that of political conspirators, they are said to be 'scattered over unsurveyed territories' and 'concealed from each other' in their 'private blizzards'. They 'guess directions', 'sketch' (plan) rigid lines on a wall of 'vanishing air'. And lastly, they 'trace the panic of suburb order' in a 'bland madness' of snows.

The use of the word 'insane' as one of the first adjectives for The Planners is very vivid. We can now picture The Planners as a bunch of madmen, derailed by their thirst for consistency and order in the cities that they intend to plan. This could also be the image that the poet is projecting onto The Planners, because according to her nobody could plan a street full of sanities without being at least a little bit insane.

The next three lines of the fourth stanza go on to describe the planners as a disorganized committee of scatter-brained people. They are scattered, signifying that they aren't grouped together or even coordinate with each other. They are concealed, reinforcing the above. And each is in his own private blizzard. What is a blizzard?

This is a blizzard.

In a blizzard, nobody would be able to see clearly or find somebody in all that snow flying about. This once again emphasizes that The Planners are not able to cooperate in their planning, hence they are disorganized and driven insane by their own ideas.

In stanza five, we are told that despite not being able to coordinate, they still continue to plan. They guess directions, sketch transitory (connecting) lines rigid (hard, straight) and onto a wall of vanishing air. The vanishing air here describes the temporariness of their plans, because of the blizzard in which they have stuck themselves. None of their plans stay concrete or even consistent (due to lack of coordination), which is at a contrast to the concise streets that they are actually planning.

In the last two lines that make up stanza six, we are presented with two oxymorons. The first is the panic of suburb order. The order that the poet refers to here is the order that she has described in stanza one, and so in a way she is returned to the main roots of this poem, which is the sanities of the streets that offend her so. She restates the insanities that go into planning the sanities by using the word panic to describe suburb order.

The second oxymoron is the bland madness of snows. This is a restatement of the poet's oxymoron in stanza one, the rational whine of the lawn mower. The poet here is continuing the extended snow metaphor that she started with the mention of blizzards. Even though the snow makes the job of The Planners confusing, the confusion and excitement is still bland (tasteless, dull), not unlike the whine of the power mower that is, at all odds, still rational in its sound.

That's it for this poem! I'm going to be rushing to finish the other poems in this anthology, as well as the stories in the Stories Of Ourselves anthology, but hopefully I'll be done by this Saturday. I hope this helped!

Love,
BioKrys