Picnic on the Lawn by Vernon Scannell - Jasmine

Picnic on the Lawn



by Vernon Scannell



Their dresses were splashed on the green

Like big petals; polished spoons shone

And tinkered with cup and saucer.

Three women sat there together.



They were young, but no longer girls.

Above them soft green applause

Of leaves acknowledged their laughter

Their voices moved at a saunter.



Small children were playing nearby;

A swing hung from an apple tree

And there was a sand pit for digging.

Two of the picnicking women



Were mothers. The third was not.

She had once had a husband, but

He had gone to play the lover

With a new lead in a different theatre.



One of the mothers said, ‘Have you

Cherished a dream, a fantasy

You know is impossible, a childish

Longing to do something wildly



‘Out of character? I’ll tell you mine.

I would like to drive alone

In a powerful sports car, wearing

A headscarf and dark glasses, looking



‘Sexy and mysterious and rich.’

The second mother smiled: I wish

I could ride through an autumn morning

On a chestnut mare, cool wind blowing



‘The jet black hair I never had

Like smoke streaming from my head,

In a summer swoop on a switchback sea.

Surf-riding in a black bikini.’



She then turned to the childless one:

‘And you? You’re free to make dreams come true.

You have no need of fantasies

Like us domestic prisoners.’



A pause, and then the answer came:

‘I also have a hopeless dream:

Tea on the lawn in a sunny garden,

Listening to the voices of my children.’



Lesson Objective: How the use of diction in poetry contributes to the overall meaning in a poem.


Class: Secondary Three Express/ Average Ability



1. What is happening in “Picnic on the Lawn”? Who are the main characters in the poem?

In this stage, I want my students to get a general idea of what the text is about – three women at a picnic and having a conversation about their dreams. I also want my students to specifically identify the two groups of women in the poem – two “mothers” and a woman who is “childless” and “once had a husband”.


2. How are the women’s dreams in the poem described? What do these descriptions suggest about the women’s dreams?
I would expect students to pick out dictions such as, “childish”, “impossible”, “out of character” and “hopeless”. The latter question would then enable students to link the dictions and their connotations to the bigger picture of women and their dreams.

3. What is the significance of the phrases, “You’re free” and “Like us domestic prisoners” in the second last stanza of the poem? What do they imply about the how the women perceive themselves and others?

Here I would expect my students to focus on the dictions, “You’re” and “us” and the binary oppositions of “free” and “prisoners to reflect on how they represent the dichotomy between married and unmarried women.


4. How does the final stanza serve as an irony of the women’s dreams?