The Yellow Palm
By Robert Minhinnick…read more

Subject
· The poem reflects how the lives of ordinary people can be damaged
by conflict
· Set in a busy street of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq who first came to
the attention of the world after the First Gulf War of 1990…read more

Form
· Written in the form of a ballad
· The refrain `As I made my way down Palestine Street' is the 1st line of
each stanza…read more

Form Explanation:
· The ballad form tells the story of the ordinary people of Baghdad.
This structure contrasts with the chaos the city has been left in
· The refrain `As I made my way down Palestine Street' reiterates a
sense of setting which is innocuous and mundane which again, is
contrast to the subject of the poem…read more

Language
· `I watched'
· `I heard'
· `I met'
· The language is simple and direct
· Repetition of the personal pronoun `I'…read more