DUFFY - summary of poems Flashcards
Give a summary of the “Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team” poem?
The narrator is a middle-ages man who looks back on his youth with enormous pride and nostalgia. He vividly remembers his success at school, with girls and as a captain of a team on a popular TV quiz show. By comparison his present life is stale and unexciting and he is disappointed by his family life, leaving him yearning to go back to a time now lost to him.
Give a summary of “Before You Were Mine” poem?
The first person narrator is a woman addressing her mother, constructing an imagined memory of the girl her mother used to be before she gave birth to her. The daughter imagines that her mother’s life was more glamorous and promising before she became a mother. She also recalls fragments of her memories of her childhood with her mother, but there is no mention of their relationship now the daughter is grown up.
Give a summary of “Nostalgia” poem?
The poem uses figures from history - Swiss mercenaries, who left their mountain homes for paid employment in armies around the world - to explore the concept of nostalgia and the way it makes people feel. There are shifts in perspective through the poem, with fragments of dialogue, brief mentions of a ‘you’ character, and specific characters described. At the end of the poem a mercenary returns to his home town to find that nothing has changed, yet everything is different, to sum up the idea that the past can never be recaptured (a common theme across these poems).
Give a summary of “Valentine” poem?
The first person narrator (non-gender specific) addresses his/her partner. The narrator gives the partner an onion to represent their love. S/he feels an onion is more accurate symbol of love than the usual cliches of roses and hearts because it encapsulates less traditional emotions connected to love, such as possessiveness, as well as carrying hints of danger and violence.
Give a summary of “Close” poem?
The first person narrative (non-gender specific) addresses his/her partner. They seem to be in a long term relationship bit it appears to be secretive (they are meeting in a hired room) and unhealthy, as the narrator feels like a possession, controlled by the other person. Nevertheless their love endured, even though it seems to make them unhappy.
Give a summary of “First Love” poem?
The first person narrator (non-gender specific) wakes up and remembers his/her first love. S/he stands at the window remembering their relationship and the memories linger all day. The memory of their relationship is fragmented but not unpleasant, although there are some subtle references to what could have been less pleasant aspects of the relationship/.
Give a summary of “Never Go Back” poem?
The poem is narrated in second person @you@ by a female character who seems to want to keep her distance. She describes returning to a place where she used to live, first visiting a pub where she used to drink and then the house where she lived as a newly-wed bride. She feels strongly that she should not have revisited these places from the past, and is relieved at the end of the poem to be on the train home, going back to her current life.
Give a summary of “The Cliche Kid” poem?
The first person narrator is visiting a doctor for help. The narrator seems confused over his/her gender, and appears to have been raised by parents who did not conform to traditional gender roles. The voice of the character is also obscured by cliches and references to old movies, often American, again suggesting identity crisis. The narrator seems to be worried about missing out on traditional aspects of adult life such as home and family.
Give a summary of “Small Female Skull” poem?
The female narrator sits in the bathroom, feeling acutely conscious of her physical self, especially her head. She seems to be unwell. She reflects on herself and her past and by the end of the poem starts to feel better and affirms her love for herself.
Give a summary of “Beachcomber” poem?
The poem seems ti be narrated in the first person but there is no mention of ‘I’. Instead the poem constantly addresses an unknown person ‘you’. The narrator urged ‘you’ to remember past events involving a child on a beach, stressing the importance of all the senses in bringing the memory to life. The identity of the child in the memory remains ambiguous, and there is also ambiguity surrounding exactly what happened to the child that day, making the reader feel uneasy that we have not been given the whole story.
Give a summary of “Litany” poem?
The first person female narrator looks back from an adult perspective to her 1950s childhood. She vividly remembers details of her childhood home and how women used to meet there to look at catalogues and have superficial conversations which always avoided any embarrassing or serious topics. She remembers how once she swore in front of the women and embarrassed her mother, who washed her mouth out with soap.
