Mr James Jane Case

The poem 'Two Hands' by John Stallworthy is complicated and intricate, it is a poem which takes time to fully understand, yet when one spends some time contemplating the meaning behind every line it becomes clear and the thought and intelligence put into each word is recognised and appreciated. For example, when I myself first skimmed over the poem, to be honest, my first impression was that it unnecessarily full of double meaning and difficult language, but now that I've read it over several times and thought about it, it has occurred to me just how well-written it is and the amount of time the poet must have spent putting it together word by word.

It is written in the ten-syllable iambic pentameter, which keeps the steady flow of the poem going. The first two lines: 'My father in his study sits up late, a pencil nodding stiffly in the hand,' instantly gives us the gist of what the poem as a whole is about- the hardworking father of the son or daughter narrating the poem, who spends excessive amounts of time on his work. The pencil 'nodding stiffly' cleverly describes the rapid movement of the pen as it makes contact with the paper, and the wording is such that that it sounds formal and somehow restricted.

This line smoothly merges into the next section of the poem '[...the hand] that thirteen times led a scalpel an intricate dance.' I think the use of the word 'led' is good because it personalises the pen and almost brings it to life, because only live animals or human beings can be led. 'Intricate dance' is also good description which in effect adds liveliness to the movement of the pen, again personalising it because we only think of human beings as being able to dance.