“what you wrote in ink
carried more weight than what you wrote in pencil
and could not be rubbed out”
This contrast is a strange point and seems detached, like a quirky comment that your memory remembers. It seems irrational yet has a certain resonance of truth. She uses humour “word-play” to create a break in the solemn mood of the poem.
“…or stayed full stop.
Some people in our class were stupid, full stop”
This was probably the attitude of many of the teachers at that time. If children are not successful in their schoolwork, they were not valued for other skills. Contrast is used ironically in “The Teachers” where the “leather tawse” used for punishment was “coiled around the sweetie tin” which was used for rewards. Another juxtaposition of contrast which makes the point more starkly is that within verse about Mattie’s death which is sad, she remarks on something that should be happy as she was “top in General Knowledge” for “knowing the name for such a cloud was Cumulus” this bitter irony increases the tragedy of mattie’s death.
The Prize, starts in the same way that both The Offering and The Teachers. And uses the title as the beginning of the stanza.
“The Prize
for Perfect Attendance”
In this poem, like all the rest there is a sense of nostalgia, of time flowing past you. “Your Sunday name in the Superintendent’s copperplate”, is not something you come across often, and means your first (Christian) name would be engraved for all time on a polished copper plaque. Lockhead’s tone criticises the fact that the prize was for being there and not necessarily for paying attention.
Again, Lockhead uses a contradictory association, saying that “X’s were kisses and were wrong like all my sums”.
She also reinforces the idea that academic excellence was very important by saying, “being first was top desk.” In those days, it was usual that pupils sat in grade order, so the cleverest were at the back and the noisy and silly ones ended up at the front, “in easy reach of the teacher’s ruler”, highlighting the use of corporal punishment as a means of discipline.
The format of the three poems is similar in that the sections are of different lengths, not in rigid verses or rhythm with rhymes. This is effective in giving the impression of thoughts tumbling out.
The spaces between the verses give extra impact to the line following, as in “The Offering”
“Never in a month of them…”
Which shows you her determination not to go back.
And in “The Teachers”
“We grew bulbs on the window sill”
Which give us a break to show her drift of thought from the Dutch who were unfamiliar, in the child’s experience, to the growing of bulbs, which was familiar.
“Sunday” is given similar prominence. The repetition of this word in “The Offering” shows her dread of this day. In the same poem she also repeats the word too, “too sweet, too bland”. This gives an increased effect.
Another technique she has effectively used is varying the length of the line in each of the stanzas.
Sometimes the style appears disjointed and uncoordinated as the memory flits from one teacher to another in “The Teachers”. However, she is setting the key features. Often what we remember is not the routine but the unusual so she remembers the foot-binding and paddy fields in China.
All of the poems contain criticisms of the past, and describe a gloomy, strict childhood. Most people tell you that their childhood was the best time of their lives because they had little to worry about. Liz Lockhead goes against this trend saying in “The Offering”, “never in a month of them would you go back”. Children had to do as the adults wished and the children’s views of enjoyment were not taken into consideration. They were told what to think,
“Miss Prentice said the Empire had enlightened people
and had been a two way thing.”
The children were not allowed to discuss this opinion. The teachers are criticised for their compressed views, “The Dutch grew poppies and were our allies in wooden shoes”. She also disapproves of the teachers for their cold dispassionate view of death, not treating the shock to the children of the death of “Mattie” but instead using it as an excuse to teach the pupils the Highway Code. (At that time less was realised about the emotional impact. The teachers would have felt that they were preventing another tragedy.) Bereavement is also alluded to in the fact that,
“Miss Prentice wore her poppy the whole month of November”. She had probably lost someone close in the war, but it is dealt with in a detached and unemotional way. Emotions were not to be expressed at that time and had to be dealt with in a dignified way. So many people had had to cope with death that it was no longer so remarkable.
Lockhead also captures well the sense of economy that still prevailed;
“Miss Prentice wore utility smocks” although the frugal time would have passed, and “…the box of coloured blackboard chalk Miss Ferguson never used”
Also in “The Prize” she recalls that golden stars were rarely given.
Lockhead was originally a painter, which would have made her very observant. It is in these small details that her memories are made more vivid. And in other period details such as using a word like “helio” (for heliotrope) to describe a particular mauve colour.
Lockhead’s concern with getting smells into her paintings which was solved by writing them down. She used this effectively in “The Offering” when she is told off by “…someone sucking peppermint and smelling of mothballs” – a ghastly combination but best clothes were made out of wool, which had to be protected from moths. Smell is also used negatively with “the late smell of bacon”. It is not the welcome smell of fresh bacon, but the greasy, stale smell of it hanging around and adding to the gloomy cheerless impression.
Lockhead’s childhood was very rule governed, with the rules being made by the adults, in “The Teachers”, she presents the teachers opinions as laws, which were not to be questioned, even though some were as ridiculous as “what you wrote in ink carried more weight than what you wrote in pencil and could not be rubbed out.”.
In “The Prize”, Lockhead seems scornful of the perfect attendance prize because “It meant being there, not ‘paying attention’ ”she is very critical of the education system which required you to do very difficult needle work and knitting, and cross-stitch until it was “speckled with rusty blood.”
The poems are written from a child’s point of view, and so contain a child’s anxieties of trying to conform to adults’ rules and to make sense of the world.
In “The Prize” “Martha and Mary on the coloured frontispiece”, seems confusing and suggesting that she did not realise they were from a bible story.
Also, in “The Offering”, she uses measurements literally and figuratively, repeating the feeling of confusion.
“you’ll still find you do not measure up”
“…you never quite understood the one about…”
and “you’ll still not understand”
All of the poems finish with last lines that convey a final poignant point that sums up the whole poem, in “The Offering” she says: -
“And the offering
still hard and knotted in your hand”
This adds to the pointlessness of attending church, she couldn’t understand what was going on and also didn’t contribute to the collection.
In “The Teachers”
“Spelling was easy when you knew how”
Which reinforces the emphasis on being correct rather than any creativeness.
and in “The Prize”
“till we knew off by heart the Highway Code”
Which again focuses on rote – learning rather than understanding the purpose and the meaning in a practical way.
Hence, Lockhead uses context, form, tone and vocabulary very effectively to portray elements of her childhood.
Darren Andrews
