Pearson Edexcel · A-Level · English Literature
Course version: 9ET0 · Version from Sept 2015
Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Post-1900 – The…
Full specification wording
Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Post-1900 – The Movement – The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, editor Philip Larkin with foreword by Andrew Motion (OUP, 1973): Brooklyn Heights
John Wain's ‘Brooklyn Heights’ examines American hope, immigration and the pressure of commerce through a Sunday view of New York.
Checked against the Pearson Edexcel 9ET0 specification (opens in a new tab) on .
- Point 8 of 18
- 4 key terms
Study notes
From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.
The idea
John Wain's ‘Brooklyn Heights’ examines American hope, immigration and the pressure of commerce through a Sunday view of New York. The nineteenth-century houses are personified as "retired sea-captains" looking towards the ocean, while children move through inherited history and "America comes smiling towards them like a neighbour". That optimism is qualified when the Brooklyn Bridge, first imagined flying on iron feathers, becomes a weight the citizens carry, and when Sunday offers only a temporary escape from the "profit motive". In its closing imperatives, the poem urges immigrants arriving with "prayers and bundles" to dream of a healing America and seek values older and stronger than commerce.
What earns the marks
- Analyse Wain's personification of the Brooklyn houses as "retired sea-captains" presiding over the meeting of river and sea.
- Explore how the children's tricycles and the "blazing forge of the future" connect family life with American historical optimism.
- Evaluate the changing bridge image: its apparent flight on iron feathers gives way to the citizens carrying its weight on their shoulders.
- Discuss how the Sunday respite from the "profit motive" and the closing commands complicate the American dream with the burdens of commerce and migration.
Common mistakes and how to put them right
Attributing the poem to Donald Davie.
Put it right: Pearson's prescribed text is "Brooklyn Heights" by John Wain.
Treating its hope as uncomplicated celebration.
Put it right: Weigh the smiling neighbour and clean Sunday sky against the bridge's burden and the profit motive.
Assuming the poem describes a desolate winter scene.
Put it right: It depicts a Sunday when families revisit the past and briefly step outside commercial labour.
Exam tips
- Track how Wain's fifteen unrhymed couplets move from description into direct address, ending with repeated imperatives to the citizens.
- Use the bridge as a structural hinge between buoyant historical imagery and the economic weight borne by ordinary New Yorkers.
- Connect the poem's immigrants, ships and Statue of Liberty to its question of whether a "true America" can survive the demands of commerce.
Try the lesson
The start of the Component 3: Poetry – Section B: Specified Poetry Pre- or Post-1900 – Post-1900 – The Movement – The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, editor Philip Larkin with foreword by Andrew Motion (OUP, 1973): Brooklyn Heights lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.
Have a go first
Which of the following best describes how John Wain explores the theme of modernity in 'Brooklyn Heights'?
Listen
John Wain's ‘Brooklyn Heights’ examines American hope, immigration and the pressure of commerce through a Sunday view of New York. The nineteenth-century houses are personified as "retired sea-captains" looking towards the ocean, while children move through inherited history and "America comes smiling towards them like a neighbour". That optimism is qualified when the Brooklyn Bridge, first imagined flying on iron feathers, becomes a weight the citizens carry, and when Sunday offers only a temporary escape from the "profit motive". In its closing imperatives, the poem urges immigrants arriving with "prayers and bundles" to dream of a healing America and seek values older and stronger than commerce. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Analyse Wain's personification of the Brooklyn houses as "retired sea-captains" presiding over the meeting of river and sea. Explore how the children's tricycles and the "blazing forge of the future" connect family life with American historical optimism. Evaluate the changing bridge image: its apparent flight on iron feathers gives way to the citizens carrying its weight on their shoulders. Discuss how the Sunday respite from the "profit motive" and the closing commands complicate the American dream with the burdens of commerce and migration. A common slip: Attributing the poem to Donald Davie. Instead, Pearson's prescribed text is "Brooklyn Heights" by John Wain. Exam tip: Track how Wain's fifteen unrhymed couplets move from description into direct address, ending with repeated imperatives to the citizens.
Key words
Say what each word means before you turn the card.
Immigration and hope
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
History and inheritance
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
Commerce and labour
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
The American dream
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
See every definition
- Immigration and hope
- The poem examines American hope and immigration through a Sunday view of New York, urging immigrants arriving with prayers and bundles to dream of a healing America.
- History and inheritance
- Children move through inherited history, while the nineteenth-century houses are personified as retired sea-captains looking towards the ocean.
- Commerce and labour
- Sunday offers only a temporary escape from the profit motive, and the citizens carry the bridge's weight on their shoulders.
- The American dream
- The closing commands complicate the American dream with the burdens of commerce and migration, seeking values older and stronger than commerce.
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