7th January 2014
GCSE English: 'Telephone Conversation' Analysis
Chime - The world's first affordable smart doorbell. Simple and connected. Please check it out and if you like it sign up to the mailing list and share it with your friends!
The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. "Madam" , I warned,
"I hate a wasted journey - I am African."
Silence. Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.
"HOW DARK?"...I had not misheard...."ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?" Button B. Button A. Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar.
It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis-
"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT" Revelation came
"You mean- like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted
I chose. "West African sepia"_ and as afterthought.
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness chaged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding "DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?"
"Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but madam you should see the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet.
Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused-
Foolishly madam- by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black- One moment madam! - sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears- "Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather
See for yourself?"
The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self-confession. "Madam" , I warned,
"I hate a wasted journey - I am African."
Silence. Silenced transmission of pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.
"HOW DARK?"...I had not misheard...."ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?" Button B. Button A. Stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.
Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar.
It was real! Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis-
"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT" Revelation came
"You mean- like plain or milk chocolate?"
Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted
I chose. "West African sepia"_ and as afterthought.
"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy, till truthfulness chaged her accent
Hard on the mouthpiece "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding "DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."
"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?"
"Not altogether.
Facially, I am brunette, but madam you should see the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet.
Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused-
Foolishly madam- by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black- One moment madam! - sensing
Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap
About my ears- "Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather
See for yourself?"
Wole Soyinka
Poet and context
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian poet, novelist and playwright. He is also a political activist, and was once imprisoned for outspoken views on regime in his home country of Nigeria. He now lives in the USA. There is a sense that he may have been in this situation throughout the poem – certainly empathises with the persona. It is set around 50 years ago, when overt racism was more prevalent.
Content
An unnamed, intelligent, educated black man seeks accommodation and finds himself in a conversation over the phone with a potential landlady whose prejudices become ever clearer as the conversation proceeds.
Mood/tone
Although the persona (and poet) make light of the situation, through phrases such as “like plain or milk chocolate?” and clearly expects some problems (“self-confession”), there is an underlying anger and frustration. The poem also creates a lot of contempt for the prejudice of the woman. Above all the poem is full of irony as the home-seeker is clearly more articulate and civilised than the landlady who is rejecting him.
Themes
· Racial prejudice
· Stereotyping and superficial judgement
· Power and the abuse of it
Form and structure
The poem is written as a dramatic monologue recounting a conversation to a third person. The poem follows the course of the conversation chronologically, offering the words spoken as well as a commentary on them by the persona. Free verse is used, with no regular rhythm or rhyme. Some enjambment makes the account sound very natural.
Language
· Simple declaratives are used at the start (“the price seemed reasonable”), but already he uses ambiguity in his choice of “indifferent”. The words “self-confession” and “warned” foreshadow the problem to come.
· The tension of the situation is conveyed through repetition of the single word “Silence.” By “Silenced transmission...”.
· Depiction of landlady through vivid visual imagery and compound-words which give a sense of someone superficial “Lipstick coated”, “long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder”.
· The negativity of the situation is shown through the use of harsh nouns and adjectives “Stench / Of rancid breath” and his anger through the repeated use of “Red” with all its connotations.
· Repetition of “silence” over the coming lines conveys both the persona’s disbelief and the issue of communication (reinforced by the way the landlady’s words themselves are repeated).
· The persona’s own polite, civilised character is revealed and reinforced by his frequent use of “Madam”, but by the end this is sounding increasingly sarcastic, especially when he offers to show her his bottom.
· He is witty, “like plain or milk chocolate?”, articulate “spectroscopic / Flight of fancy” .
· He uses irony “Considerate she was” In contrast, the landlady’s lexis is simple, repetitive, limited (and rude).
· The message of the poem is contained in the ambiguity of the final line – the plea that she should “See for yourself”.
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian poet, novelist and playwright. He is also a political activist, and was once imprisoned for outspoken views on regime in his home country of Nigeria. He now lives in the USA. There is a sense that he may have been in this situation throughout the poem – certainly empathises with the persona. It is set around 50 years ago, when overt racism was more prevalent.
Content
An unnamed, intelligent, educated black man seeks accommodation and finds himself in a conversation over the phone with a potential landlady whose prejudices become ever clearer as the conversation proceeds.
Mood/tone
Although the persona (and poet) make light of the situation, through phrases such as “like plain or milk chocolate?” and clearly expects some problems (“self-confession”), there is an underlying anger and frustration. The poem also creates a lot of contempt for the prejudice of the woman. Above all the poem is full of irony as the home-seeker is clearly more articulate and civilised than the landlady who is rejecting him.
Themes
· Racial prejudice
· Stereotyping and superficial judgement
· Power and the abuse of it
Form and structure
The poem is written as a dramatic monologue recounting a conversation to a third person. The poem follows the course of the conversation chronologically, offering the words spoken as well as a commentary on them by the persona. Free verse is used, with no regular rhythm or rhyme. Some enjambment makes the account sound very natural.
Language
· Simple declaratives are used at the start (“the price seemed reasonable”), but already he uses ambiguity in his choice of “indifferent”. The words “self-confession” and “warned” foreshadow the problem to come.
· The tension of the situation is conveyed through repetition of the single word “Silence.” By “Silenced transmission...”.
· Depiction of landlady through vivid visual imagery and compound-words which give a sense of someone superficial “Lipstick coated”, “long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder”.
· The negativity of the situation is shown through the use of harsh nouns and adjectives “Stench / Of rancid breath” and his anger through the repeated use of “Red” with all its connotations.
· Repetition of “silence” over the coming lines conveys both the persona’s disbelief and the issue of communication (reinforced by the way the landlady’s words themselves are repeated).
· The persona’s own polite, civilised character is revealed and reinforced by his frequent use of “Madam”, but by the end this is sounding increasingly sarcastic, especially when he offers to show her his bottom.
· He is witty, “like plain or milk chocolate?”, articulate “spectroscopic / Flight of fancy” .
· He uses irony “Considerate she was” In contrast, the landlady’s lexis is simple, repetitive, limited (and rude).
· The message of the poem is contained in the ambiguity of the final line – the plea that she should “See for yourself”.
Share this:
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...