Them & [Uz] Revision

Question 1

Why does Harrison write the title using IPA? (Them and [uz])

Answer 1

To introudce the conflict between working-class accents and RP.

Question 2

Why does Harrison choose the form of a sonnet and strict rhyming patterns despite the non-standard nature of language?

Answer 2

To symbolise an effort to break free from ‘accepted’ and expected form of expression.

Question 3

Who was Richard Hoggart?

Answer 3

An academic who wrote about the changes ot language forced upon the working class.

Question 4

Who is Leon Cortez?

Answer 4

An actor and entertianer who spoke in regional accent.

Question 5

Why does Harrison dedicate the poem to both Hoggart and Cortez?

Answer 5

He is showing that both academia and entertainment both have linguistic value.

Question 6

Where is the title ‘Them & [Uz]’ taken from?

Answer 6

A chapter in Richard Hoggart’s book on the oppression of working class speech.

Question 7

Why does Harrison juxtapose the dramatic Greek opening of ‘aiai’ with the comedic ‘ay, ay!’ of the working-class?

Answer 7

To highlight the tensions between the two that form the central conflict in the poem.

Question 8

What does ‘orator’ mean?

Answer 8

Speaker

Question 9

Who was Demosthenes?

Answer 9

He was a skilled orator famous in Greece in 400 BC.

Question 10

Why does Harrison mention that Demosthenes had a stutter?

Answer 10

To highlight that others who have literary value did not speak perfect RP.

Question 11

Who are the three literary figures that Harrison references in the poem, who did not speak perfect RP?

Answer 11

Demosthenes, Keats and Wordsworth

Question 12

gob full of pebbles ___________ seas’

Answer 12

outshouting

Question 13

At beginning of the second stanza of Them & [uz] what does the speaker do to rebel against prescritivist ideas of expression?

Answer 13

Uses the number 4 instead of the word.

Question 14

What is the effect of the ellipsis in stanza two of Them & [uz]?

Answer 14

Highlights the abrupt interruption of the teacher, mocking the regional accent.

Question 15

What does the teacher all TW in Them & [us] to demean the way he speaks?

Answer 15

barbarian

Question 16

I played the Drunker Porter in Macbeth.’ Why is this line a single-line stanza?

Answer 16

To emphasise the speaker’s disappointment but to also highlight his acceptance at this stage in the poem.

Question 17

What literary symbols does Harrison employ in stanza 3 of Them & [us]?

Answer 17

Poetry to symbolise RP speakers and prose to symbolise regional speakers.

Question 18

What is the effect of the parnenthesis (even Cockney Keats?’?

Answer 18

It casts doubt on the assertion of the value of RP.

Question 19

Why does Harrison call those who push RP ‘Receivers’?

Answer 19

Receivers deal with bankruptcy. Harrison believes the establishment has bankrupted the regional accent and eroded its value.

Question 20

Harrison suggesting ‘Receivers’ have bankrupted regional accents could be linked to what contextually?

Answer 20

The erosion of regional accents after the introduction of public schools in the 19th century.

Question 21

Other than Them & [us], which poems in Harrison’s collection deal with the lack of voice of working class speakers?

Answer 21

National Trust, Marked with D, Working

Question 22

That ___ my trap’

Answer 22

shut

Question 23

What attitude towards accents do terms like ‘stuffed’, ‘lumps’ ‘hawk up’ and ‘ spit out’ show?

Answer 23

One of disgust.

Question 24

How does Harrison show an aggressive and forceful attempt to silence his accent at the end of the first section of Them & [us]?

Answer 24

E-nun-ci-ate!

Question 25

How does Harrison show an immediate change of tone in the second section of Them & [us]?

Answer 25

He becomes much more rebellious, shown through regional dialect. (So right, yer buggers, then!)

Question 26

We’ll occupy // your lousy ________ Poetry.’

Answer 26

leasehold

Question 27

Why does Harrison call their poetry leasehold?

Answer 27

It implies that RP speakers only have temporary control over it. The idea of a correct English was only introduced from the 1600s onward.

Question 28

I chewed up _______________’

Answer 28

Littererchewer

Question 29

Who is ‘dozing Daniel Jones’?

Answer 29

The first person to use the term RP. Calling him dozy shows a disdain for him.

Question 30

What technique is used in [uz] [uz] [uz[?

Answer 30

Tricolon

Question 31

I’m _____ harrison’

Answer 31

Tony

Question 32

What is the importance of Tony, TW and Anthony in the poem?

Answer 32

TW shows the grammar school attempting to control his diction. Tony is his identity. Anthony is the formal self the newspaper expects a writer to be.

Question 33

___________ matter/water are full rhymes’

Answer 33

Wordsworth’s

Question 34

What does the final two lines of Them & [uz] show?

Answer 34

His exasperation. That for all his passionate ranting in the second section, it is going to be a harsh battle to win.

Question 35

Why does Harrison shift from rhyming couplets to alternate rhyming couplets at the end of the poem Them & [uz]?

Answer 35

To symbolise an effort to break free from ‘accepted’ and expected form of expression.