Football after School

Question 1

‘Warpaint slicked over your face - ‘

What is suggested by using the word war paint?

Answer 1

Connotations of violence throughout the poem, including words like…
Butting, dagger, stab, bruise, trample, punches,

Question 2

‘Your common language jeers’

What is suggested by ‘common’?

Answer 2

A - lots of people do it

B - looking down on it, low class

Question 3

WHat can be said about the structure of the poem?

Answer 3

5 stanzas each with 7 lines
ABABCDC
Represents the imperfections in life

Question 4

‘With the premature swagger’

What is suggested by the word premature?

Answer 4

PREMATURE suggests a fear that he is growing up too quickly

Question 5

‘Of manhood, butting it with your head:’
What does the sentence metaphorically suggest?
What is the significance of using the word ‘butting’?

Answer 5

• The sentence suggests that the voice is worried that he might go into situations acting rashly without thinking about it
  BUTTING - perhaps the boy is being compared to a stag and his horns, which symbolises coming of age. Butting is a confrontational motion, often used (in the wild) to assert masculinity

Question 6

‘Your school tie a stiff striped dagger’
What technique is used here and why?
What is the ‘dagger’ symbolic of?

Answer 6

SIBILANCE is used - sibilance is often used to suggest evil, which compliments the idea of the dagger (and other violent motions throughout the poem)
The DAGGER is possibly used to suggest threat or danger that the voice foresees

Question 7

What is suggested by words like ‘common’, ‘swagger’, ‘butting’ and other words which connote violence?

Answer 7

Perhaps a contradiction of society, in that children feel confined to gender roles, a message delivered through the metaphor of football, a traditionally male sport

Question 8

How does the poem suggest that the game of football has changed as the son grew older?

Answer 8

The game has been corrupted by swearing and violence as he grows older

Question 9

‘Yes, soon you’ll he picked at scabs’

What is the point in the emphatic ‘yes’ to open the stanza?

Answer 9

• To reiterate her point

- But also to remind herself

Question 10

Why is the word ‘scab’ used in the opening line of the second stanza?

Answer 10

• Typically boyish imagery

- Also used to represent the struggles he may encounter along the way

Question 11

‘Of kisses off your skin as each kick’
Why does she write ‘of kisses off your skin?’
What is meant by kick?

Answer 11

OF KISSES OFF YOUR SKIN - expresses the fear that soon he will no longer need her
KICK - at the hands of bullies

Question 12

‘Makes you dwarf a tree and stab’
What does this sentence imply?
What does the tree represent?

Answer 12

• The sentence implies a loss of innocence

- The tree represents strength

Question 13

‘Makes you dwarf a tree and stab
A flower;’
What is the significance of using a flower?
How is juxtaposition created within these lines?

Answer 13

FLOWER - beautiful, but weak and defenceless

Juxtaposition is created by the idea of the strong tree, in contrast with a defenceless flower

Question 14

‘Unset homework’

What does this suggest?

Answer 14

Unset could refer to ‘ignored’

Could also be a metaphor for finding his own way

Question 15

‘How to survive any monsters switch’

What is meant by this?

Answer 15

Refers to the control the bullies may have over his life

Question 16

‘Yet as I look at your porcelain skin’
Why does the writer choose to open the stanza with the word ‘yet’?
What does porcelain suggest?

Answer 16

YET - brings a change in tone

PORCELAIN - connotes purity and fragility, as well as something which is quite valuable and delicate

Question 17

'Yet as I look at your porcelain skin,
Their granite jowls'
What is meant by jowls?
What does the final line suggest?
How is juxtaposition created within these lines?

Answer 17

JOWLS - connotes age
The second line perhaps suggests that the mother is worrying that, in the future, he may become unhappy as a result of being confined to gender stereotypes
Juxtaposition is created by using the word ‘porcelain’, closely followed by ‘granite’, creating contrast not only between the two materials themselves, but also the ideas they represent - a comparison between what he is now, and what he will inevitably become

Question 18

‘From studded boots, be clever’

What do the studded boots represent?

Answer 18

The spitefulness of others

Question 19

‘Enough to tackle fouls with something’

What are the fouls representative of?

Answer 19

Dodging unfair treatment

Question 20

‘More then then ink stained fists of feet’
What does this express about the writers hopes for her son?
(Also think literary techniques)

Answer 20

This line expresses the hope that her son will think about things first before rashly reacting with violence. This idea is delivered through the technique of alliteration.

Question 21

‘Not hooligan to trample’

What does this suggest?

Answer 21

The writer doesn’t think her son will be strong enough to survive

Question 22

‘Into the sod your shadow grows’

What does this line suggest?

Answer 22

The sons body is growing, but his mind isn’t - he isn’t emotionally mature

Question 23

‘Punches below the belt from those you know’

What does this suggest?

Answer 23

Unfair treatment/being hurt by those you love

Question 24

‘Punches below the belt from one you know
Without flinching.’
What is meant by ‘without flinching’?

Answer 24

Without letting it affect you long term

Question 25

‘Or confiscate the sun’

What does this idea represent?

Answer 25

The author is able to describe the sons innocence and happiness in terms of the sun, whilst simultaneously communicating that she is aware that he will not be happy all of the time

Question 26

‘Theyll puncture and put out’

What is meant by ‘they’ll’?

Answer 26

They’ll is rather ominous, and suggest threat or intimidation, though perhaps the threat is more worrying for her then it is for the son

Question 27

‘In their robust world I’m no Amazon’

What does the writer suggest?

Answer 27

She regrets the fact that she wasn’t tough enough, perhaps hinting at the damage this vulnerability has caused. She feels that she is an inadequate example/role model

Question 28

‘I can only scream inside without a shout’

What does this suggest?

Answer 28

Suggest that the mother is silent and can do nothing to help. Suggest a sense of hopelessness