Tony Harrison. Long Distance

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Barnard Parsons
6 years ago
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1 Tony Harrison Long Distance

2 Tony Harrison: Long Distance I Listen to the first part of the poem.

3 Long Distance I

4 Tony Harrison: Long Distance II Listen to the second part of the poem.

5 Long Distance II

6 Comment on the title of the poem Long distance phone call (the final line connects with the title disconnected number I still call ) Separation Quality of their relationship

7 Form and Structure The poem consists of two parts. Part I 16 lines - irregular division into stanzas Rhyming scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GGHH Two different types of print = two voices (poet and his father) Part II 16 lines regular division into stanzas; each stanza has 4 lines Rhyming scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHHG 1 word italicised - knew

8 Voice Part I Inner dialogue between the poet and his father They speak to each other Present tense Direct speech Part II Monologue The poet speaks to the reader (you couldn t just drop in) + in the final stanza he speaks to his parents Past tense + Present tense (last stanza) 3 rd + 1 st person narrative

9 Theme - relationship to his parents Part I Relationship between his parents + his father after mother s death The poet s relationship to his father (carelessness, regrets last 2 lines) Part II The strange game they play together after mother s death father pretends she s still alive. The son plays it after his father s death.

10 Imagery Part I Images of loneliness Your bed s got two wrong sides; I can t stand it no more this empty house Images of illness Diabetes; coronaries; cataracts Images of food and drink Carrots, sauce, sweets, beer, food Alliteration Big brown bag, coronaries and cataracts Part II Images of home Warming slipper, hot water bottle, key, get the tea Images of loss Still raw love; end his grief; you haven t both gone shopping; the disconnected number I still call; in my new leather phone book there s your name

11 Language Part I Father dialect Words: ah = I; mi = me Contracted forms: em = them; wi out = without; t only = the only Double negatives I can t stand it no more Part II No dialect

12 Mood Part I Last two lines convey self-criticism, remorse (he neglected his father) Regret, complaint Part II regret mellow thoughtful nostalgic

13 Tony Harrison Them & [uz]

14 Tony Harrison: Them & [uz] Listen to the poem.

15 Them & [uz]

16 Demosthenes A Greek politician, who was said to have conquered a speech impediment by practising speeches against the noise of the sea, with a mouth full of pebbles. He went on to be acclaimed as the greatest of Greek orators.

17 mi art aches John Keats's poem Ode to a Nightingale begins My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/ My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk. Keats was born in London and was, in this sense, a cockney.

18 William Wordsworth An English romantic poet, who was born in Cockermouth in Cumbria and spent much of his life in the Lake District.

19 Comment on the title of the poem Them = Receivers (RP received pronunciation, language of establishment) People whose language is widely accepted as correct; if you do not speak such language, you are culturally excluded. [uz] = Barbarians; People who speak dialect and thus appear less educated.

20 Form and Structure The poem consists of two parts; dedicated to his teachers Part I 16 lines Rhyming scheme AA BB CC DD EE FF rhyming couplets Words written in italics, phonetic symbols, numerals abbreviations in both parts Part II 16 lines First two lines do not rhyme Then rhyming couplets Last four lines alternate couplets

21 Voice Part I Tony Harrison recollects being criticized for his reading Keats out in his native Yorkshire/ northern accent A dialogue between Harrison and his teacher Part II Tony Harrison speaks to his teachers. He decided to use his own language, though the Times made him Anthony (used their language)

22 Theme - eloquence, accent, cultural exclusion In the eyes of the establishment well educated BUT speaks dialect! Conflicts Standard English (RP) Teachers Upper Class Demosthenes Poetry us Shakespeare, Macbeth The Times, Anthony Dialect Harrison Working Class Stutter Prose [uz] Drunken Porter Tony

23 Onomatopoeia Littererchewer Metaphor Imagery My mouth all stuffed with glottals, great lumps to hawk up and spit out I chewed up Littererchewer and spat the bones into the lap of dozing Daniel Jones Alliteration Lousy, leasehold Poetry; RIP RP Enjambment You re one of those/ Shakespeare gives comic bits to We ll occupy/ your lousy leasehold Poetry Spat the bones/ into the lap of dozing Daniel Jones

24 Mood Combative Ironic Humorous Expressive Proud

5. Aside a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage

5. Aside a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage Literary Terms 1. Allegory: a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. Ex: Animal Farm is an