LINK TO PDF AT BOTTOM OF PAGE👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
This found poem was taken from the 9th, 10th and 11th page of the passage by Roald Dahl. It shows the external conflict between people and people. I highlighted the 2 parts of the conflict One is “policemen who are searching the exhibit (weapon)”, and the other is “Mrs Maloney who made the policemen eat up the exhibit (the lamb leg)”
During the whole story’s falling action, Mary killed her husband but acted as if she did nothing. The policemen were searching for the whole premises and finding clues about who killed Mary’s husband. “Her husband, killed by a blunt instrument” means they still have not found out that it was the frozen lamb leg that did it. Why Mary killed her husband because Patrick asked for a divorce and Mary got angry and swung the frozen lamb over the back of Patrick’s head and killed him. That was when all the problems started.
From the rising action of this poem I used the words “You must be tired, they stood awkwardly.” This means the search is long and the funny part is about to start. The climax of the story is when Mary successfully convinces the four policemen to eat the lamb which she used as a weapon. The falling action is the four policemen discussing the weapon even though they don’t realize they are eating it. The resolution is that When the policemen are confused and Mary sits on the sofa giggling.
The Hyperlink describes what the title Lamb to the Slaughter means by Cambridge Dictionary it means action you do not know you are doing but you did it anyway, in this case, Mary swung the frozen lamb leg, the same as a steel club at her husband’s head and killed him. She did not know what she did and why she did it. Here is a Quora discussion for the meaning of the title.
The artistic detail I used was the lamb leg as you can see it might not be frozen because it was the scene of the policemen eating the weapon they don’t know, which is under their eyes. I highlighted my found poem in yellow to make it appear brighter among the more neutral colours. The lamb also symbolises the weapon Mary used (but it is not frozen) and the main conflict of the story. The title is Lamb to the Slaughter with descriptive old English cursive handwriting to make it stand out I added dribbles of blood because there is murder and there was a small pool of blood on the floor, either from the husband or the lamb’s leg also to stand out. I added the picture from the film which is Mary swinging the lamb leg and all the problems starting to form. That explains the climax of the story.