| Collection
Introduction (2) | Standing Female Nude, 1985
Autobiographical
Poetic revenge |
| Subject | Teacher at multi-ethnic school believes modern poetry is not 'real' |
| Form (3) | Five sestets - controlling, rigid environment
Dramatic monologue
Although Duffy's voice isn't heard, her opinion is made clear through the chosen diction |
| Theme | The teacher looks down on modern poetry, believing it is taking a turn for the worse.
- School life and education
- Multiethnicity
- Racism and Cynophobia (C.R)
- Language and Linguistic relativity (C.R) |
| Motifs (5) | "for not all poems, sadly, rhyme these days"
"inkstained fingers"
"outside view"
"real life poet"
"Convince us that there's something we don't know" |
| Cross References (3) | - Rudyard Kipling; the teacher supports his view on imperalism, his poetry is the ideal because it rhymes
- John Keats - 'Ode to Autumn'; reference to traditional poet supports the description of a person who scorns modern poetry
- Harold Macmillan (British Prime Minister) - 'winds of change'; the teacher is boastful |
| Diction; Words (4)
Teacher's diction (2)
Nouns and lexical fields (4)
Verbs (3)
Wordplay | - Monosyllabic - 'Fine. Off we go', 'well', 'right', 'well, really'; the teacher is uninterested in Duffy
- Imperatives - 'show your appreciation by clapping. Not too loud', 'run along now girls'; controlling nature
- Concrete and pertaining to school life and education - 'class', 'poet', 'book', 'lesson'; no flexibility for creative expression (traditional)
- Stative - 'write', 'know', 'sit'; rigid environment and mentality
- 'midst', 'Seasons of mist and so on and so forth'; showing off her intellect |
| Imagery; Visual
Auditory (2)
Olfactory | - 'sit up straight and listen'; rigid, controlling
- 'clapping', 'applause'; forced response to the poet's speech (degrading)
- 'winds of change'; (1) reference to Harold Macmillan, (2) reference to flatulence, (3) reference to the changes happening in poetry |
| Rhythm (2) | Slow; assertiveness of teacher
Fast; unbothered nature of teacher
- 'Right. That's enough from me. On with the Muse'; punctuation marks slow the tempo
- 'Just an essay/on the poet's themes'; monosyllabic words fasten the tempo |
| Rhyme (2) | Internal and end rhymes nod to the teacher's obsession with traditional poetry and emphasis on the need for rhyme
- 'verse hot from the press', 'reams'-'themes'; internal rhymes
- 'bounds'-'pounds', 'view'-'you'; end rhymes |
| Tone
Mood | Satirical (towards teacher and education system)
Atmosphere of school (created through lexical fields) |
| Conclusion | Criticism on the education system and the views on modern literature
Someone like that should not be teaching English literature |
