John Agard's flag analysed. Analysis is best suited for the GCSE AQA specification. This poem fits into the conflict cluster. Includes detailed annotations of every stanza and includes the poem. This is a useful revision tool of classroom presentation.

1. GCSE POETRY
AQA conflict cluster
Full analysis, explanation and details from the poems form the
FLAGJohn Agard

2. Flag
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.
What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.
John Agard

3. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
“It’s just a piece of cloth” repeated in every stanza to
emphasise the importance of the statement, and to reinforce the
dismissal of this ‘flag’ to the reader, and to show that it not
important, that it does no good.

4. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
“fluttering” is an onomatopoeia to inspire creative and vivid
imagery within the reader. It makes the poem more engaging
and appeals to the readers’ senses, seeming almost audial,
touchable, hearable and visible when read.

5. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
“Breeze” is smooth and gentle, which makes it very
pleasant to read and makes the reader feel calm, tranquil and
relaxed, which is ironic because this poem presents the flag
as a violent symbol that provokes violent behavior.

6. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
“nation to it’s knees” surrounds pain and surrender that makes the
audience feel angry towards the actions of this ‘piece of cloth’. Knees
could connote surrender, imagery of praying. Being on your knees is
personifying the flag, and if someone is on their knees they are lower than
you, which means that they have less power (symbolically), which makes
the flag sound degrading.

7. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
Enjambment is used to cement the join between the dismissive nature of
the 2nd line and the negative final line which emphasises the negative
attributed of the flag, and makes it not one or the other, but it makes the
flag seem both unnecessary and negative at the same time. This applies
to every stanza.

8. STANZA 1
What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.
Structure of the lines looks like a flag because most flags have three
stripes to them. Agard could have used this structure because it looks like
the three stripes to the flag, and on of the old flags with the triangle out of
the middle to represent the age of the flag and how outdated they are in
our modern world.

9. STANZA 2
What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.
Question and answer rhythm of the poem makes it seem as if
somebody naive, such as a child, is asking the question, and an adult with
knowledge is answering which implies to the reader that if they still think
that the flag is good or if they don’t understand the implications of the ‘flag’
then they are childish or naive.

10. STANZA 2
What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.
Visceral imagery is used in the poem to make the
flag appear to the audience as if it physically causes
injury to people.

11. STANZA 2
What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.
“men grow bold” connotes war and it emphasises the effects of
these flags and by using the visceral imagery, he makes it seem
that the “guts of men” may “grow bold” however, there will be harsh
consequences, which obviously outweigh the positives of war.

12. STANZA 3
What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.
“rising” is quite a humble word which emphasises the
point that the flag creates pride in war, and how we
respect just a piece of cloth.

13. STANZA 3
What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.
“tent” could relate to a war tent outside a battlefield which relates
the flag even more to the disasters of the war, and could act as a
catalyst or the starting factor to all wars.

14. STANZA 3
What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.
“dares” is quite a childish word, which does connote danger as
well. It could be stating that fighting just because of a flag is
childish, immature and dangerous.

15. STANZA 3
What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.
“coward to relent” emphasises the effects of the
flag, making the opposing ‘flag’ weaker and to
make it surrender.

16. STANZA 4
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
“flying” is a very large scale word that is often associated
with dreams and amazement and of course powerful jets and
planes which can quickly turn into a disaster when they crash.

17. STANZA 4
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
“outlive” could mean that the flag will live forever and it will survive
forever, unlike everything living, like the people fighting in the war who will
die eventually anyway, so he is suggesting that it is a shame that people
think that that they should “bleed” just to keep the flag.

18. STANZA 4
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
the ‘b’s in “blood you bleed” are plosives and sound harsh and violent
when read aloud. There is also alliteration here that is made to make this
part stand out which also makes the flag seem more violent.

19. STANZA 4
What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.
Agard uses 2nd person when he says “you”, which makes the
reader feel responsible for any of the actions in the poem, and it makes
the reader feel as if they should do something about it and change it.

20. STANZA 5
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.
All lines are ended and there is no enjambment, which makes the 2nd
line feel abrupt and it brings an end to this question and answer scheme
- all of his questions have been answered.

21. STANZA 5
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.
“possess” sounds as if they still want the flag even though they
know all of the disasters that it brings, the reader may presume that he
is obsessed with the power that this flag is portrayed to have.

22. STANZA 5
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.
when you “blind your conscience” you have no care for others or your
responsibilities and their consequences and Agard has presented this well to
tie in with war, because you are essentially killing people, and that can’t agree
with your conscience. John Agard questions if it is the right thing to do.

23. STANZA 5
How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag, my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.
“The end” could imply that it is until you die and this could be that you
die in war or that it is related to that the flag will “outlive the blood you
bleed”. It could also express the effects of war, such as shell shock and
the memories of their blinded conscience until the day they die.

24. John Agard
FLAG