James Honeyman - W H Auden (Reading Journal)

• ABCB rhyme scheme, apart from first stanza. Possible showing how he didn't fit in from the very beginning of his life.
• Use of several settings e.g. school and his shed at the bottom of the garden. Narrative moves through the locations.
• First 11 stanzas give context, a background to his life.  Shows his love for science 'But he doesn't play with the other boys' isolation.
• Auden seems to follow people to their death, shown in this poem as well as others, e.g. Victor, Miss Gee. 
• Themes of War, ambition, isolation, responsibility (links with morality of poem)
• We see two sides of him, a seemingly nice man has created a killer gas that is used against his own country during the war. 
• Stanza 6, about 5 years told in one stanza, very rapid pace which slows down later in the poem (like Victor).
• Use of different voices - subjective opinions. 
• 'With Imperial Alkali' Opposite of Acid (acid seen as dangerous) he left safety to work with dangerous chemicals.
• Final 3 stanzas, repetition of 'Oh', like a lament, talking about how his gas has killed thousands.