In+the+Theatre

=In the Theatre= by Dannie Abse //(A true incident) ‘Only a local anaesthetic was given because of the blood pressure problem. The patient, thus, was fully awake throughout the operation. But in those days—in 1938, in Cardiff, when I was Lambert Rogers’ dresser—they could not locate a brain tumour with precision. Too much normal brain tissue was destroyed as the surgeon searched for it, before he felt the resistance of it … all somewhat hit and miss. One operation I shall never forget … ’// (Dr Wilfred Abse)

Sister saying—‘Soon you’ll be back in the ward,’ sister thinking—‘Only two more on the list,’ the patient saying—‘Thank you, I feel fine’; small voices, small lies, nothing untoward, though, soon, he would blink again and again because of the fingers of Lambert Rogers, rash as a blind man’s, inside his soft brain.

If items of horror can make a man laugh then laugh at this: one hour later, the growth still undiscovered, ticking its own wild time; more brain mashed because of the probe’s braille path; Lambert Rogers desperate, fingering still; his dresser thinking, ‘Christ! Two more on the list, a cisternal puncture and a neural cyst.’

Then, suddenly, the cracked record in the brain, a ventriloquist voice that cried, ‘You sod, leave my soul alone, leave my soul alone,’— the patient’s dummy lips moving to that refrain, the patient’s eyes too wide. And, shocked, Lambert Rogers drawing out the probe with nurses, students, sister, petrified.

‘Leave my soul alone, leave my soul alone,’ that voice so arctic and that cry so odd had nowhere else to go—till the antique gramophone wound down and the words began to blur and slow, ‘ … leave … my … soul … alone … ’ to cease at last when something other died. And silence matched the silence under snow.


 * //Content...//**In the theater is a true story based on the notes of Abse's brother,a dresser to awell-known surgeon.it sets the action of the poem in Wales in 1938 In an operating theater,where the surgeon attempts to locate the brain tumor of a patient who was under local anesthesia. the patient low blood pressure and was lucky to recieve anasthetic as usually,in those days a patient wouldnt recieve anastetic and finding the tumor was a "somewhat hit and miss" procedure that seems to have involved looking for it using just your fingers. A grotesque image, but all goes well until the patient, as a "ventriloquist" voice not his own, cries out, "Leave my soul alone, leave my soul alone!" The doctor withdraws from the brain, but the patient then dies, after which the mood in the operating room is shocked and speechless, as "silence matched the silence under snow."


 * //Theme...//** the main themes of this poem is the disregard for human life and


 * //Language...//**this poem takes a rather graphic and sarcatsic approach towards a very serious subject. examples of this is when in the first 2 lines of the 1st stanza,the nurse says one thing to reassure the patient but means something else. Also as the poem progress' the imagery becomes more graphic with regard to the opperation eg...
 * the fingers of Lambert Rogers, rash as a blind man’s, inside his soft brain.
 * more brain mashed because of the probe’s braille path;
 * patient’s dummy lips moving to that refrain, the patient’s eyes too wide.

__Key quotations...__ "if items of horror can make a man laugh"- Abse is synical as to why humans would find horrific things funny when they aren't. "more brain mashed"- this is a very graphical image of the surgeon searching away in the brain. "the cracked record in the brain,"- it is as if the brain now plays a cracked record due to the surgeons actions. "that voice so arctic and that cry so odd had no where else to go." - this shows us his body is now cold and has nowhere else to hide so escapes through his mouth. "the words began to blur and slow," - he is slowly dying, like a cracked record. "to cease at last when something other died" - not just the record and the words have died, but now the patient. "And the silence matched the silence under snow" - the events have left everyone silent, not just the patient, because he is dead.

"the growth still undiscoverd, ticking its own wild time" - makes the tumour seem like a bomb "patients dummy lips" - makes it seem as though the surgeon is a ventiloquist and the patient his puppet. "antique gramaphone"- this shows the voice sounds old now. "silence under the snow" - it is lifeless underneath the snow which mirrors the atmosphere of the room
 * //Imagery...//**

this is complimentary of the patients life as at the start it is fairly strong however at the end there is no life or rhyme.
 * //Sound...//**there is nothing special regarding the sound.however the rhyme scheme at the start is fairly strong with the ends of the 1st and 4th lines rhyming in the 1st 3 stanzas...in the 1st stanza the 5 + 7 th lines rhyme and in the 2nd stanza the end of the 6th and 7th lines rhyme.


 * //Tone//**...it is a fairly solemn poem and is rather sarcastic as demonstrated by the nurses tone...however it ends rather sad with the repeated phrase "leave my soul alone"