The Telephone Call

Question 1

Tell me about the title…

The Telephone Call

Answer 1

• Definite article: hints at it being a significant occassion
• No details about who/what/when: ominous intrigue

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Dialogue between caller and respondent: caller has the first and last word (also the stanzas), dominates the majority of the conversation
• 6 stanzas: SHIFT at the start of the 4th as doubt creeps in
• Repeated questioning and laughter from caller furthers unease
• 8 lines per stanza: regularity to the conversation (stock responses/standardised company cold call)

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

• Free verse
• No fixed rhyme scheme or meter
• Dialogue between caller/narrator ‘I’ and the mysterious ‘they’/’Universal’
• Informal, colloquial; little figurative language
• Frequent enjambement and caesura to parallel the natural pace and pause of conversation

Question 4

Context about the time period in which it was written

Answer 4

• Written in 1986
• Explosion of consumerist culture
• 60s-80s birth of the cold call: companies calling in mass to make telesales; unregulated until 90s
• Lottery: worldwide popularity, millions enter annually despite minimal chance of winning

Question 5

Context about the poet

Answer 5

• Fleur Adcock: Australian born, lived in Britain
• Renowned style: mundane subjects with a dark twist: in this poem, people are not what they seem
• Seeming innocence/domesticity undercut with subversive message: in this poem, the illusory idea of happiness and the dangers of human greed

Question 6

3 layers of analysis

“Relax, now, have a little cry;/
we’ll give you a moment…’ ‘Hang on!’”

Answer 6

• ‘little cry’ undermining the caller’s reaction in previous stanza
• ‘Hang on!’: first interruption and caesura (previously new line = new speaker).
• Reinforces the urgency of the speaker and structurally draws attention to the twist.
• ‘We’ll give you a moment’: tone is measured and prepared; at odds with the respondent’s desperate exclamation

Question 7

3 layers of analysis

Have a nice day!’ And the line went dead.

Answer 7

• Abrupt end to the poem with the end of the phone call: caller and reader left in state of shock
• Conventional platitude: mocking and/or distant
• Exclamation mark: false positivity
• ‘Have’ = imperative, aimed to reassure but greatly ironic considering the emotional turmoil the caller has been through

Question 8

3 layers of analysis

“I feel the top of my head/has floated off, out through the window,/revolving like a flying saucer.”

Answer 8

• Only simile in the poem: heightened disbelief
• Extraterrestrial image: highly exaggerated, strange and disorientated
• Enjambement reinforces the uneven pace of the respondent, with excitement or confusion
• Somewhat humourous in tone, helps us empathise with the respondent

Question 9

3 layers of analysis

“The Ultra-super Global Special”

Answer 9

• Hyperbole
• Two synonymous adjectives spliced together: further exaggerates the tone
• ‘Global’ ‘Special’: capitalised, vague jargon to convey significance and importance, whilst remaining deliberately vague about what the ‘prize’ is until the next line (further building dramatical reveal of a million pounds).
• This is deliberate by both Adcock and the Caller to toy with the emotions of the reader and respondent.

Question 10

Tell me about the caller and the respondent…

Tone

Answer 10

• No variation in reporting clauses: ‘I said’ ‘They said’ keeps focus on the tone and language
• Caller: domineering, forthright, matter of fact, interrogative (lots of questions)
• OR smarmy, mocking, baiting.
• Respondent: excitable, hysterical, concerned, anxious (exclamation marks, lots of ellipses)
• OR sceptical, doubtful, SHIFTS to less naive as the stanzas progress

Question 11

Give 5

Themes

Answer 11

• Appearance vs Reality
• Unpredictability of life
• Human greed and folly
• Encroaching consumerism
• Value and construction of happiness