In the poem “Out of the Blue” the poet is writing about the tragic event that is known as 9/11. He writes from a mans perspective who is hanging out of the twin towers windows pleading for someone to help him. The poem was written by Simon Armitage, who was actually not in New York at the time of the twin towers going down. He has written a beautifully hard hitting and imaginative poem about the events of that horrifying day that those two planes flew straight into the high standing buildings.

The man being written about in the poem is desperately waving for help or any attention, so he feels like there is still hope for him. He knows how close he is to death but he doesn’t want to go yet. He waves and waves but then he eventually surrenders to the bullying heat that is talked about in the poem. I feel that this would be a horrific way to die, not wanting to die but there is no escaping the inevitable in that situation. I personally have not been in any near death situations that I can’t remember but when I was a baby I was knocked off the ventilator that was keeping me breathing. Being a hopeless little baby there was no escaping that fact that right then I couldn’t breath and I could do nothing but lie there. “Im trying, Im trying” the poet writes this and uses repetitions to give it a sense of urgency. This quote is important to the text because it shows that he is fighting hard to get some help but there is just no chance. The quote also relates to my personal story because I would have been battling for a breath and trying hard but there was also no chance. I flatlined, but thankfully they were able to get me back and then back onto the ventilator. Very different situations but I do relate the two because of the sense of hopelessness there is in both stories.  The man in the window can’t escape the heat and smoke choking him and I couldn’t do anything but lie there and die. Another perspective that could be taken is the onlookers, the people standing in the street watching on while people’s lives are being taken. They stand there feeling useless and guilty that they still have their lives and are safe. This can be related to my personal experience because of my Mum. This is probably one of the first times I have ever thought of how my Mum would have felt watching on and seeing me dying. “So when will you come” is a line from the poem, it is about the guy in the window wondering and asking when someone is going to come help him. I was such a young age I don’t relate this quote to me as much as I do relate it to my Mum, in the sense that she is waiting for someone to come help the dying daughter that is right in front of her. She would have felt the same watching this awful thing happen right in front of her eyes yet there was not a thing that she could do to help me in that moment expect scream for help. 

This poem shows us that sometimes things happen in life that we have no control over and we can only sit back and watch it all unfold. Unfortunately sometimes people get hurt, lives are lost, but everything works out in the end, even though it may be hard at the time, it gets better. Human life is so fragile, but if we were to be careful with it we would never accomplish anything in life and then when these crazy uncontrollable situations occur people wouldn’t know how to react. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

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  1. Achievement Achievement with Merit Achievement with Excellence
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