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A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannel is a poem which deals with a very

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A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannel is a poem which deals with a very unusual topic; the murder of a cat by a nine year old boy. The poet brings the poem alive by using different writing techniques e.g. line lengths.

“A Case of murder” by Vernon Scannel

Critical response to literature by Gregor Baird

“A Case of Murder” by “Vernon Scannel” is a poem which deals with a very unusual topic; the murder of a cat by a nine year old boy. The poet brings the poem alive by using different writing techniques e.g. line lengths, no rhyme or pattern this holds my attention more and stops the rhyme merge into one tone. He also uses writing techniques such as Repetition, Figurative language, structure & rhyme. In the poem the boy has …show more content…

Due to the adrenaline the boy is quite excited and happy that he had hurt the cat that had caused him so much mental pain it tells you by the way he quotes it
“Snug in its fur, hot blood in a muff”.

To bring the poem alive the poet uses images and techniques such as repetition, rhyme, structure, theme, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia and alliteration. The poet uses these techniques to make the poem more interesting to make the reader more enthralled by the poem, making him/her want to read more and keep the attention span. In this poem the poet uses a lot of similes “quick as a sudden crack in glass”, this is an effective simile as the quote emphasises the cat being really fast, almost as fast as glass smashing and glass smashes faster than you can see. Another example of a simile is “Plump as a cushion with tucked in paws”. This line tells us that the cat is fat and is often spoiled. It also tells us the tucked in paws that it is happy and cannot be bothered to show any affection to the boy this is effective because it shows us that the cat doesn’t do anything and annoys the boy by sitting about. A last example of a simile is “round eyes as mad as gold” this simile is effective because its used to show that the cat is giving the boy a cold angry stare this is showing that the cat also hates the boy with a passion.

Another technique that Vernon Scannel uses in the poem is metaphors “A buzzing machine of soft black

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