A Wider View (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Each poetry anthology at GCSE contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another. As this is a closed-book exam, you will not have access to the second poem, so you will have to know it from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem
• The ideas and messages of the poet 
• How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods
• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

Below is a guide to Seni Seneviratne’s poem “A Wider View”, from the Worlds and Lives anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods
• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes
• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

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

• The poem in a nutshell
• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Seni Seneviratne’s intention and message

“A Wider View” in a nutshell

“A Wider View”, written by Seni Seneviratne, is a nostalgic  poem in which a speaker considers the perspective of a great-great-grandparent living in 19th-century working-class Leeds. The poem explores the bonds of heritage and cultural identity {Error #829843: Missing popover `sIVMyDlRxL3d_XH`} that move beyond time and place. 

“A Wider View” breakdown

Lines 1–3

“From the backyard of his back-to-back,

my great-great-grandad searched for spaces

in the smoke-filled sky to stack his dreams,”

Translation

• The poem describes a type of Victorian terraced house, called a “back-to-back” 
• The narrator introduces the poem’s subject, their great-great-grandfather
• The city where he lives is described as polluted and with little free space  

Seneviratne’s intention

• The first lines of Seneviratne’s poem introduce the idea of reflection and longing  
• The lines highlight the industrialisation of the city, and describe it as restrictive and cramped:
• The poet implies a lack of freedom in the city  

Line 4–5

“high enough above the cholera to keep them

and his newborn safe from harm.”

Translation

• These lines tell us that the narrator’s distant relative had to keep his family safe from common but serious illnesses such as cholera

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne highlights the man’s care for his family as well as the dangers they face
• The lines imply poor social conditions in the city, making survival difficult

Lines 6–8

“In eighteen sixty-nine, eyes dry with dust

from twelve hours combing flax beneath

the conicals of light in Marshall’s Temple Mill,”

Translation

• The poem mentions the year, 1869, and the factory work of the Industrial Revolution 
• The poet refers to long and uncomfortable working hours “combing Flax ” in a textile mille:
• “Marshall’s Temple Mill” is a former flax factory in Leeds, begun in 1791 by an industrial pioneer, John Marshall
• The textile mill was notoriousfor its poor working conditions, employing young children and the elderly, with long working hours

Seneviratne’s intention

• Here, the poet draws attention to the limited rights of the workers
• The descriptions allude to the dark and dusty conditions in the factory
• By mentioning a specific factory, the poet creates a sense of familiarity and authenticity

Lines 9–10

“he took the long way home because

he craved the comfort of a wider view.” 

Translation 

• The narrator explains how their great-great-grandfather walked the “long way home”, suggesting he needed to spend time alone outside of the busy, inner city streets
• The narrator explains that he “craved” more space, a “wider view” of the city

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne describes the man’s need for space and solitude
• The emotive {Error #829843: Missing popover `abc123`} words “craved” and “comfort” suggest the man is constrainedin some way and needs freedom 

Lines 11–13

“As he passed the panelled gates of Tower Works,

the tall octagonal crown of Harding’s chimney

drew his sights beyond the limits of his working life”

Translation 

• The man’s journey home takes him past historical buildings in the city
• The poet describes the buildings as imposing (“tall” and “panelled”) and stately (“crown”)
• These buildings seem to inspire the speaker’s imagination away from his mundane life in the factory

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne names famous landmarks in Leeds to draw attention to the history of the city
• The “panelled gates” add to the feeling of entrapment felt by the speaker
• The reference to the “octagonal crown” suggests the factory’s power and importance in the city

Lines 14–15

“drowned the din of engines, looms and shuttles

with imagined peals of ringing bells.”

Translation 

• By listing the machines in the factory, the poet implies the noise (the “din”)
• But the speaker is able to drown out the noise with his imagination

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne draws attention to the noise of the factories, which the man seeks to escape
• The buildings the man sees on the walk home, however, help him forget his work:
• Seneviratne therefore conveys the power of personal reflection

Lines 16–17

“Today, my footsteps echo in the sodium gloom

of Neville Street’s Dark Arches and the red-brick vaults”

Translation 

• The poet shifts to the present tense and a first-person perspective 
• The historical arches over the station in Leeds are mentioned 

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne brings the past and the present together as the narrator walks in the same place as they imagine their distant relative walked

Lines 18–19

“begin to moan as time, collapsing in the River Aire,

sweeps me out to meet him on the Wharf.”

Translation 

• The narrator personifies the brick vaults that moan as time “collapses”
• These lines appear to describe a metaphysical blending of time and place
• The narrator is swept into the past to meet their great-great-grandfather

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne presents the close bonds of heritage
• The narrator, standing in the same place as they imagine their ancestors stood, feels a close connection with the past
• This is made more realistic by grounding the image in a particular place

Lines 20–21

“We stand now, timeless in the flux of time, anchored

only by the axis of our gaze - a ventilation shaft”

Translation 

• The poet changes perspective to the first-person plural “we” to depict the meeting between the narrator and their ancestor 
• Seneviratne’s narrator appears to find time stopped in the axis of the building’s ventilation shaft 

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne’s theme of heritage is shown as a never-ending bond between family members
• The buildings, also timeless, are the stimulus for this reflection  
• The view becomes a connection between the generations who see the same thing

Lines 22–24

“with gilded tiles, and Giotto’s geometric lines-

while the curve of past and future generations

arcs between us.”

Translation 

• These lines refer back to the imagined “ringing bells” the great-great-grandfather hears when he passes Tower Works:
• “Giotto’s geometric lines” refers to a famous bell tower in Italy 
• Here, the narrator explains how the majesty and history of the buildings connect past and present generations

Seneviratne’s intention

• Seneviratne ends the poem closing the distance between the narrator and their ancestry
• Physical belonging is linked to emotional belonging
• The poet describes how individuals can find connections across time and place through personal reflection

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, especially in relation to the theme or message. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas and patterns of language, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Seni Seneviratne’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:

• Form
• Structure
• Language

Form

The poem is made up of five unrhymed, but mostly regular, stanzas. The first-person narrator takes readers on a narrative journey that describes the life of an ancestor in Victorian England. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Home and heritage	The first three stanzas focus on Leeds in 1869 and describe an industrialised city	The poet presents the perspective of an individual in Victorian times: By considering the perspective of a “great-great-granddad” the poem conveys themes related to heritage
	The last two stanzas focus on modern Leeds: The speaker’s reflection moves from past to present	The poet conveys the Fluidity of time as the speaker’s “footsteps echo”
	Close bonds between generations are shown with a shift to the first-person plural “we” and “us”	Seneviratne highlights the comfort of generational connections that resist change
	Seni Seneviratne portrays the significance of cultural and ancestral bonds that are not broken by time

Structure

The poet’s ideas about time and identity may be reflected in the rhythm created by free verse. This contributes to the narrative style of the poem as the narrator describes a city across time. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Inner lives	Free verse subverts the regular structure of the poem	Seneviratne creates a reflective tone in a story about the past: The lack of rhyme contributes to the narrative style
	Seneviratne uses Enjambment to present a flow of thoughts: The move from past tense to present tense (“We stand now”) blurs boundaries of time  Each stanza is also only one sentence, which also mimics the constant flow of time	The fluid rhythm reflects the speaker’s deep consideration of a past life, and connections to their own
	caesurae highlight the idea of travelling through time, emphasising “time, collapsing”: The long-standing buildings connect the generations in “the axis of our gaze - a ventilation shaft”	Seneviratne draws attention to the insignificance of time: The poet draws attention to the way the story moves from the past to the present
	Seneviratne’s poem presents an individual’s observations of their historical environment and the way it links them to the past

Language

Seneviratne’s poem describes a city across time, focusing on industrialised Leeds, a place that connects her with her ancestry. 

Theme	Evidence	Poet’s intention
Relationships and lives	The opening line of “A Wider View” uses repetition to create a sense of Claustrophobia : The “back-to-back” house is linked to “backyard” This is emphasised with the assonance of “stack his dreams” Alliteration highlights their sense of being closed in: he “craved the comfort of a wider view”	Perhaps this connotes to both the speaker’s thoughts going back into the past and their relative’s cramped and limited life
	The speaker describes the city, emphasising its industrial nature with a triple: “the din of engines, looms, and shuttles” sibilance highlights this: “searched for spaces/in the smoke-filled sky”	Imagery describes the industrialised town as the speaker imagines it in Victorian times
	The poem’s ethereal quality is created with a Semantic field related to the metaphysical: The speaker describes “time, collapsing”  The speaker and ancestor meet, “timeless in the flux of time”	These lines connect to the title, “A Wider View”, and allude to themes on the fluidity of time and generational connection
	The speaker uses landmarks in the city as the stimulus for their reflection on Familial connections: They refer to the “Dark Arches”  Personification of the “red-brick vaults” that “begin to moan” show the city as a living thing The Tower Works is the “axis of our gaze”	Seneviratne develops metaphorical ideas related to the “the curve of past and future generations” through symbolism that presents “arcs between us”
	Seneviratne comments on timeless and influential connections related to culture and heritage that can be found in our environment

The mark scheme rewards contextual connections rather than reference to factual information. In this case, examiners are not looking for random biographical information about Seni Seneviratne that is unrelated to the ideas in “A Wider View”. Instead, the best responses consider the way the poem is informed by the context in which it was written. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Seneviratne in the poem that relate to her world and life. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Seneviratne explores:

• Home and heritage
• Disconnected relationships and lives  

Home and heritage  

• Seni Seneviratne was born in Leeds, England, but is of Sri Lankan heritage
• The influence of her cultural identity is evident in much of her poetry:
• Her work was first published alongside the work of other women of South Asian heritage
• In the poem she refers to ancestors who “crave the comfort” of a “wider view”:
• Perhaps this alludes to the rural landscape of Sri Lanka compared to urban Leeds
• By describing a distant relative’s life, she offers their perspective and a “wider view”
• “A Wider View” was written as part of a commission for Leeds Architecture Week:
• Seneviratne describes the city of Leeds in the poem, drawing attention to historical buildings and their beautiful designs 
• The poem describes the Tower Works steel factory as majestic with a “tall octagonal crown” 
• The speaker draws comparisons with renaissance architecture:
• Seneviratne describes “gilded tiles” and “Giotto’s geometric lines”
• This, Seneviratne has said, was influenced by her imaginings of her great-great-grandfather’s commute through Florence on his travels
• She refers to a building in Italy called Giotto’s Bell Tower and the “‘peals of ringing bells”
• Writing about an ancestor's life around the time of the Industrial Revolution raises attention to the city’s origins:
• The poem also refers a building that supports the railway in Leeds, “Dark Arches”
• This structure was built in 1869 and led to an increase in crime, perhaps implied by the description of “sodium gloom”:
• The poem mentions this year specifically 
• The poem describes the noise of the mills where the people’s eyes were “dry with dust” 
• The relative seeks escape in imagination, so the “din” of “engines, looms, and shuttles” are “drowned” with the noise of bells

Relationships with the world  

• Seni Seneviratne is a writer, poet, performer, singer and creative artist
• She considers herself a political activist; she protested against the Vietnam War, fights for gender equality, and writes poetry in response to social issues 
• Her work has won many awards and she is commended for her writing on themes related to people’s lives and connections:
• In her poem, “A Wider View”, Seneviratne imagines an ancestor’s desire to escape the polluted and disease-ridden environment of an industrialised city
• They describe their ancestor’s journey home from work in Victorian Leeds
• The poem “A Wider View” considers the insignificance of time regarding buildings and relationships:
• The poem explores metaphysical ideas like the collapsing of time
• The speaker is able to meet their great-great-grandfather in the “axis” as they cross the “arcs between us”
• The poem raises questions regarding the impact of urbanisation on individuals’ lives:
• The poem refers to unsanitary living conditions and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera

Her great-great-grandfather “searched for spaces” that were “safe from harm”

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about worlds and lives in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that “A Wider View” explores the ideas of relationships between human beings and their worlds, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• “A Wider View” and “In a London Drawing Room”
• “A Wider View” and “A Portable Paradise”
• “A Wider View” and “Like an Heiress”

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell
• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem
• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem
• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

“A Wider View” and “In a London Drawing Room” 

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Seni Seneviratne’s “A Wider View” and George Eliot’s “In a London Drawing Room” employ speakers who explore their feelings about their environment. However, while Seneviratne’s poem celebrates the life and history of a city, Eliot describes a joyless urban environment. 

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems offer observations on their urban environment
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“In a London Drawing Room”
	Seneviratne uses imagery to describe the industrial city of Leeds:  The “smoke-filled sky” and “eyes dry with dust” connote to discomfort  A triple stresses the “the din of engines, looms, and shuttles” in factories that need to be “drowned out”	Eliot describes a miserable, gloomy London, commenting on the “cloudy” “yellowed” sky and the wall of buildings like “solid fog”
	The speaker describes struggles in the city:  The man has to work “twelve hours combing flax” The poet describes dangerous conditions: The man must get “high enough above the cholera” where it is “safe from harm”	Eliot’s speaker describes their environment similarly:  The speaker implies the people are not thriving, using a metaphor that alludes to nourishment: “No figure lingering/Pauses to feed the hunger of the eye”
	The speakers suggest unease and suffering as a result of an urbanised city

Topic sentence	Both poems comment on the way individuals are impacted by their external worlds
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“In a London Drawing Room”
	The poet draws attention to their imagined ancestor’s sense of claustrophobia in urban Leeds:  The great-great-grandfather lives “back-to-back” The relative “searched for spaces” to “stack his dreams”	Eliot describes urban London’s mundane and dreary environment as restrictive:  The “houses opposite/Cutting the sky” are a “long line of wall” The “Monotony of surface & of form” leaves little room for individuality or variety
	Seneviratne portrays an individual who takes a long way home in order to draw “his sights beyond” “the limits of his working life”: She describes how he “craved the comfort of a wider view”	Eliot suggests an urban world limits the imagination and sense of mystery:  It leaves the people “Without a break to hang a guess upon”
	Both poems describe an individual’s response to disconnections in the world that they believe bring sadness and despair

 Differences:

Topic sentence	Seneviratne’s poem “A Wider View” describes a city full of history and life, while George Eliot’s “In a London Drawing Room” criticises the isolation in urban London
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“In a London Drawing Room”
	Seneviratne’s poem celebrates the life in the city: The city’s buildings are personified as they bring the speaker closer to distant relatives They meet when “the red-brick vaults/begin to moan” Powerful imagery describes the majesty of the “crown of Harding’s chimney” and “gilded tiles”	Eliot criticises her world by describing London as without compassion or joy:  She says her world is a place “Where men are punished at the slightest cost” She describes the city as having the “lowest rate of colour, warmth & joy”
	Seneviratne illustrates a timeless connection with personal ancestry through the city’s architecture:  The speaker and relative find a building that is the “axis of our gaze” First-person plural describes a relationship created by the “curve of past and future generations” and the “arcs between us”	Eliot draws attention to the way London is “All closed”, implying isolation and solitude:  The speaker describes how “No bird can make a shadow as it flies” and “No figure” lingers
	Seneviratne offers varying perspectives on an industrialised city, drawing particular attention to its ability to connect people across time, while Eliot’s poem is a critique of the way growing urbanisation in London makes the world bleak and depressing

“A Wider View” and “A Portable Paradise”

Comparison in a nutshell:

This is an effective comparative choice to explore poems which portray individuals’ responses to their worlds and comment on uneasy relationships within them. However, while Seni Seneviratne depicts a speaker who finds comfort in a city’s buildings, Roger Robinson shows an individual who finds comfort in the natural world.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both speakers present emotional responses to their environment and heritage
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“A Portable Paradise”
	Seneviratne’s poem is in free verse to deliver the speaker’s emotional narrative: Enjambment reflects the fluid tone as the narrator moves between the past and the present  A caesura breaks the flow to represent the speaker’s imagined meeting in “time, collapsing”	Robinson, too, conveys the response of his speaker through enjambment, which conveys a breathless expression of emotion: In contrast, a sudden caesura represents moments of tension: “on my person, concealed, so”
	Seneviratne reflects on an ancestor’s life and finds a personal connection with them as the “curve of past and future generations/arcs between us”	Robinson, too, presents an individual with a strong bond to a grandparent: “And if I speak of Paradise/then I’m speaking of my grandmother”
	Seneviratne imagines their ancestor’s constrained life in Victorian England:  The great-great-grandfather lives in a small row of houses,  “back-to-back” Assonance contributes to the sense of claustrophobia with the phrase “stack his dreams”	Robinson illustrates similarly desperate individuals, using Imperative verbs and a list that implies a limited choice:  The speaker says “get yourself to an empty room – be it hotel,/hostel or hovel – find a lamp” The adjective “empty” connotes to loneliness
	The speakers allude to the comfort of heritage in hostile urban worlds

Topic sentence	Both poems comment on the disconnected relationships in their environments
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“A Portable Paradise”
	Seneviratne draws contrasts between the limits of a distant relative’s life in Leeds and his desire for escape: The “din” of machinery must be “drowned” out by ringing bells that remind him of Italy and his travels The man “craved the comfort” of a “wider view” but must escape the city streets and get “high enough” to be “safe from harm”	Robinson, similarly, suggests conflict and imbalance: The speaker refers to the third-person plural “they”  The nameless opposition suggests a conflict between the boy and those in power: “That way they can’t steal it, she’d say”
	Sibilance highlights a desperate individual who “searched for spaces” that were beyond the “limits of his working life”	Robinson criticises the “pressure”, highlighting it with sibilance in “stresses” are “sustained and daily”
	Both poems describe isolated individuals struggling to survive in oppressive environments

 Differences:

Topic sentence	Seni Seneviratne depicts a speaker who finds comfort in a city’s history, while Roger Robinson’s “A Portable Paradise” finds comfort in the natural world
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“A Portable Paradise”
	The speaker finds a strong connection with the past in the urban modern world: Seneviratne uses personification to present the city as a living thing: The “red-brick vaults/begin to moan” The Tower Works building joins the present and past It is where the speaker and their ancestor meet (“the axis of our gaze”)	Robinson use imagery to present the way nature can provide comfort in the present and future world: The speaker offers a way to find comfort in daily life: “empty your paradise onto a desk:/your white sands, green hills and fresh fish.”
	The poem ends linking the city’s buildings to a timeless relationship between generations described as the “arcs between us”	Robinson ends his poem with advice relating to the natural world’s ability to bring peace:  “Shine the lamp on it like the fresh hope/of morning”
	Seni Seneviratne shows how a city’s historical buildings can bring individuals closer to their heritage, while Robinson’s poem presents an individual finding their own comfort within natural objects

“A Wider View” and “Like an Heiress” 

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Seni Seneviratne’s “A Wider View” and Grace Nichols’ “Like an Heiress” explore connections between a speaker and their heritage, brought about by observations of their environment. While Seneviratne’s free verse celebrates a city’s culture, Nichols’ sonnet criticises a neglectful attitude to the natural world.

Similarities:

Topic sentence	Both poems highlight relationships between an individual and changing environments
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“Like an Heiress”
	Seneviratne reflects on the history of a city: The speaker describes an industrialised Leeds with a “smoke-filled sky” The speaker, standing in the same place as their great-great-grandfather, is taken back to the past However, this is described in present tense: “my footsteps echo”	Nichols describes the changes between the ocean of the speaker’s childhood and the ocean they see in the modern world: At first, imagery presents the narrator’s excitement to visit the Atlantic Ocean: they are “drawn to the light of her/eye-catching jewels” A dash shows the shock the speaker feels as they see a “wave of rubbish against the seawall -” This makes the speaker return to “dwell” on the future
	The poet’s speaker reflects on the timelessness of their environment: The speaker returns to “today” with imagery describing the “sodium gloom” of the “Dark Arches” A building, Tower Works, is where the speaker meets their distant relative First-person plural indicates the bonds across time in the phrase: “axis of our gaze”	Nichols’ narrator reflects on their environment in terms of its heritage:  The speaker feels like “an heiress” and the ocean is their inheritance The speaker ends the poem sharing responsibility on the “fate of our planet”
	The poets both comment on issues they face in their world with contrasting imagery that connotes to shared heritage

Differences:

Topic sentence	Seni Seneviratne brings a city’s history to life, while Grace Nichols’ sonnet offers a sophisticated critique of humans’ behaviour toward the natural world
Evidence and analysis	“A Wider View”	“Like an Heiress”
	A free verse form contributes to a reflective celebration of a city’s heritage: Enjambment gives the narrative an ethereal and romantic quality This is emphasised with sibilance: “searched for spaces/in the smoke-filled sky to stack his dreams”	Deviation within a sonnet form contributes to Nichols’ message about humans’ neglectful love of nature: Irregular rhythm subverts the traditional form in lines like: “used car tyres, plastic bottles, styrofoam cups/rightly tossed back” Enjambment highlights an apathetic response: “heading back like a tourist/to the sanctuary of my hotеl room.”
	The speaker relates the buildings in the city to power and majesty, such as in the line “the tall octagonal crown of Harding’s chimney”: The poet personifies the “‘the red-brick vaults” that “begin to moan”	Nichols’ metaphor relating the natural world to a rich inheritance becomes tainted as the speaker considers changes: An ominous tone is created in imagery such as “the sun's burning treasury”
	Seneviratne portrays the beauty of a city rich in history, while Nichol’s poem presents an individual’s tense thoughts on a bleak future