When this is compared with the language in Education for Leisure, which is very modern and has no hidden references like in Laboratory “the devils smithy” which talks about hell and the devils lair because of all the potions and poisons in the laboratory. It is very ordinary text with nothing exiting to mention, however the ideas mentioned are very extraordinary. It is much the same in hitcher with no exiting language but some interesting ideas. The one comment I have on hitcher is the way answerphone is written in line 2 “the ansaphone is ringing”. This gives the audience the impression of a dialect or accent.
Most of the poems are written in present tense by saying “I squash a fly, I am a genius, I pour the goldfish” the only one which differs is Laboratory, it is written in the same tense, however in a different ways, telling the story as it happens, the character is having a conversation with the person working in the Laboratory.
The themes and ideas looked at in each poem are very similar as the all branch off from the main one, you are so tense and stressed you are on the edge. In Laboratory the main themes are adultery, between her husband and the other woman, murder between her and the other woman, jealously that the other women is sleeping with her husband and not her and hatred at her husband’s lack of devotion to her. In Education for Leisure the themes are the murder of his victim, him being fed up with being ignored, anger between him and whatever he sees and the feeling of being unappreciated. In Stealing the themes that run through the poem are the feeling of the man not being understood by anyone he talks to, the excitement of other people’s pain, and boredom forcing him to steel for a bit of light relief. In Hitcher the themes are murder between the man and his hitcher, the hypocrisy of the man allowing himself to do something but not anyone else and the fact that the man has no motivation for anything he does.
The ideas in the poems vary hugely. I feel Education for leisure is the best example of someone on the edge. The character is so bored he just kills for fun, he starts with something small, but this starts the chain reaction and he ends up killing a person, although the poem does not say this, the fact “the radio cuts me off. I get our bread knife and go out” this was the last straw for him, he now wants to go out and kill someone. He couldn’t take the rejection any more. The last paragraph tells us more about the character that the rest of the entire poem. They were rejected and didn’t like it, they were depressed and didn’t know what to do. This is why I feel this is the best example.
Although adultery is another prime example of how someone can be driven to the edge, by anger, rage, jealousy, betrayal. She was blinded with rage and felt she could do nothing to win back her husband but kill his new partner. She does not want to harm her husband though; she tells us this in line 47 “you may kiss me old man, on my mouth if you will”. This is fairly unusual because she still loves him, whereas most women would hate their husbands for committing adultery and never wants to see them again, but she still loves him.
Depression is another good example of how someone can be driven to the edge. The main character was tired and not feeling great, when, in line 3 “One more sick note, mister and you’re finished, fired.” This sets the scene for the poem. There is a sense of mystery in the poem. “the truth he said was blowin in the wind” But the most obvious theme is boredom. “he was following the sun to west from east” shows the fact he has nothing to do and doesn’t care. Then, unexpectedly he kills the passenger he picks up. The fact “didn’t even swerve” shows how proud he is of being able to kill someone without losing control of his car. It now becomes clear he is insane and killed without having any good reason and also showed no remorse for his crime “let him out saw him in the mirror” is showing he doesn’t care about what he has just done.
In all four of the poems we are shown how different people can be pushed to the edge in different ways, and how they deal with it.
Jak Money 11G1
