Giuseppe

• Themes


  • Cruelty and dehumanisation
  • Guilt
  • Transgression
  • Horrors of human nature
  • Power
• Structure


  • Written in free verse, the structure helps to layer additional meaning into the poem in a story-like way. lack of specific rhythm or rhyme makes the poem sound like something that would be spoken in conversation, therefore creating a more personal connection to the poem.
  • This makes the poem feel more realistic, which is important to ensure a reader considers the dark subject matter as something that could happen
  • This creates confessional tone to the poem, once again increasing the connection with a reader.
• "the only captive mermaid in the world was butchered on the dry and dusty ground by a doctor, a fishmonger and certain others."


  • verb ‘butchered’ is the first statement of horror, dropped in casually - takes away her humanity. She is despatched like an animal is before it is consumed.
  • mermaid being the subject is significant. Just as humans justify causing pain to animals by denying that they are sentient, so the mermaid is denied human emotions like terror and pain.
  • 'Dry and dusty ground' - she is taken out of her own environment and killed
  • A doctor and a fishmonger kill her - trusted
• "she was only a fish and fish can't speak. But she screamed like a woman in terrible fear."

  • The priest contradicts himself, holding her hand to comfort her, while asserting that she was ‘only a fish’. - 'only' strips her from her identity
  • This is the pivot of the poem, a dramatic climax achieved by a simple but stark simile; she is only ‘like’ a woman because the perpetrators want to deny her capacity to feel. The preceding excuses sound lame and shameful in comparison.
• "my uncle, the aquarium keeper said, but couldn't look me in the eye for which I thank God."


  • No longer named - just his uncle - shows decline of respect
  • Giuseppe’s guilt is implied in his final excuse that ‘starvation forgives many things’, while at the same time failing to look his nephew in the eye
  • The speaker’s impulse to thank God is his expression of relief that his uncle felt guilty. The latter suggests that Guiseppe and his friends have retained some integrity and humanity. The excuse that ‘it’s ok’ to murder during war and famine isn’t sufficient and this is recognised.
• "proof she was just a fish and anyway an egg is not a child"


  • The doctor is clearly torn between the desperate need to feed the soldiers, and the standards of morality dictated by his profession. He contradicts his own assertions that ‘she was just a fish’ by refusing to eat her roe.