The ferryman’s arms

• Given somewhere to stand


  Would be able to stop death if possible but it is not
• "Globe- the ball is a metaphor for the world: '"'
• “As physics itself becomes something negotiable“ - paradox as physics cannot be altered.
• "Rash of small miracles: ”
• "Rash spreads fast; many: '"'
• "Small miracles" when we can't explain things through science, we turn to religion. We rely on miraculous events to fill the gap in our knowledge -implies the uncertainty of the space between life and death.: '"'
• "Immaculate clearance" another miracle like the immaculate conception: '"'
• Literally describes sinking the black ball and the white ball rebounding


  Also foreshadows the leaving/staying of the split self at the end of the poem
• "A low punch” + "dab“ sneaky, violent action - unexpected victim. A bit like death.
• "The vanishing trick"- definite article "the" could signify death-"vanishing act "dying): '"'
• "Black “+"white stopped"- regular rhythm stops with "stopped". Again the black and white represents duality (life and death?) and action-reaction: '"'
• "Gently" + "as if nothing had happened" +"shouldering“ personification of the white ball -paradoxical nonchalance. Also foreshadows leaving other 'self' at the end of the turning point: '"'
• Describes the speaker leaving the pub and going to catch his boat/ferry
• The boat


  Charon's Ferry
• Chugged


  Pleasant connotations
• tout breaking the skin of the water


  Silence and stealthiness connotes other worldliness
• Stretching


  Long expanse of water
• As black as my snout: 'Parenthesis contains simile and brings back the idea if dualism and drinking-links the Guinness to water. Both things used to transport and hide things.'
• Charon


  Ferryman from Greek Mythology and the river Styx
• Title


  • Reference to Charon and the river Styx
• Lines 1-4


  • Introduces ideas about duality and division
• "Ferryman"


  Double meaning - name of pub or being carried in Charon's arms
• "Half-pint"


  He's not there for long
• "Magnetized"


  Word choice - uncontrollable
• "Like a moth, to the darkened back room"


  Ironic as moths are normally drawn to light (something that kills them) and could imitate a soul being drawn to the underworld
• "Darkened back room"


  Sense of mystery and isolation
• The following lines introduce the idea of split self
• Word choice "Kill" + "hell"


  Connotations of the afterlife and this sense of menace is expanded from the opening lines
• "looked around for a cue"
• "While I stood with my back turned"
• "Parched D" + "Threadbare" - suggests neglect and its well-worn but has a thirst for survival = fighting against death.
• Literally the worn table has become an unpredictable surface to play on
• " could screw back"
• "Somewhere unspeakable"


  Connotes evil/darkness. Possibly from the River Styx and The Underworld. - sense of the inexplicable in reference of unable to speak- possible connection between incoherence of drunkenness and the difficulty of understanding life.
• "Speaker boards ferry"


  An act of the dead
• "Nutter's persistence"


  Disturbing imagery
• "To read and re-read the shoreline"


  it can take more then once to read something and know what it says when your drunk
• "I got aboard early"

  Leaves before he should- ideas of premature death.
• "remembering the ferry would leave on the hour"


  Death follows its own laws and waits for no man. Almost unstoppable.
• "Only for my losing opponent"


  This is both nobody and himself. The speaker is at once the winner and the looser, presence and absence, life and death.