`Education For Leisure’ By Carol Ann Duffy CfE Higher
Attitudes and Ideas The poem is about a person who is so disaffected with their life and society that they are a prospective murderer. The poem is set on the day of the murder and builds to the moment just before the murder is committed. “Today I am going to kill something. Anything. I have had enough of being ignored”
Who is the speaker? A psychotic character feels under appreciated because of his treatment from others. He has ‘had enough of being ignored’ and therefore feels he needs to ‘play god’. This suggests the character’s frustration. His frustration gives him the compulsion to express himself through violence; “I pour the goldfish down the bog” This can be used to explain his reason for killing the goldfish, the fly and, possibly the veiled threat to the reader.
How does language help you understand the character? Today I am going to kill something. Anything. I have had enough of being ignored and today I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day, a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets. I squash a fly against the window with my thumb. We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was in another language and now the fly is in another language. I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name. I am a genius. I could be anything at all, with half the chance. But today I am going to change the world. Something’s world. The cat avoids me. The cat knows I am a genius, and has hidden itself. I pour the goldfish down the bog. I pull the chain. I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking. Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town for signing on. They don’t appreciate my autograph. There is nothing left to kill. I dial the radio and tell the man he’s talking to a superstar. He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out. The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm. ‘I’ is repeated throughout the poem to suggest the character’s egotism. Colloquialisms give the character a realistic voice. Exaggerated claims and biblical language suggest his God complex. The pronoun ‘your’ involves the reader and threatens them – the reader is the murder victim.
Analysis “Today I am going to kill something.” “There is nothing left to kill.” The repetition of ‘kill’ throughout the poem highlights the focus of the speaker’s violence and compulsion to harm. This word is repeated in stanza one and five to show the continuous threat this character presents. His compulsion grows worse throughout the poem as his violence escalates and he “kills” or threatens bigger things: he starts with a fly, then gradually increases to killing his goldfish, panicking the budgie and scaring the cat, until eventually he involves the reader in the final sentence. This clearly shows his psychotic response to being “ignored” in the local town.
Analysis “Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town for signing on. They don’t appreciate my autograph.” This description is ambiguous in meaning. Linking it to the character’s egotism ‘Signing on’ suggests that he feels he should be famous and signing. This could also suggest the character’s intention in changing other people’s views of him – he wants more status than he is currently given. Taken more literally, Duffy intends to illustrate that unemployment leads to stress.
Structure “The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.” Caesura is used in the poem to make the reader pause and think about the two phrases. The poem ends on a violent cliff-hanger that involves a threat to the reader. Enjambment is used in the poem to give the stanzas the rhythm of natural speech. This makes the character’s voice more realistic, but also more threatening.