Carol Ann Duffy uses her several characters in ‘Comprehensive’ to express her own views on violence and tension in schools. It is mainly the English characters that show any sign of tension in school. It is clear that Carol Ann Duffy sees white, teenage boys who are mainly racist and she shows this mainly through the personality ‘Wayne’. It is clear that Wayne is ignorant through the lack of education. Carol Ann Duffy has taken what she believes to be a typical thug, he is almost a caricature in the way that his name is associated with British working-class males with racist attitudes and is at the age when he believes he must prove his masculinity by ‘paki-bashing’. Wayne is the stereotype suggested by his name and Carol Ann Duffy tries to bring out his racist remarks in his stanza. The poet portrays the foreign speakers as shy and nervous, something which she must believe is true. The immigrated children do not talk of racism at all, so it is clear that Carol Ann Duffy believes that tension and violence in schools is mostly down to the English youths.
In ‘The Lesson’ structure and form is used by Roger McGough to write about violence and tension in schools. The opening two lines are in italics, which clearly separates them from the rest of the poem. It is almost as if it is not part of the poem itself but an introduction. It asks an ironic question and the poem beneath it is an answer. The strong rhythm of ‘The Lesson’ suits the disturbing yet powerful poem. Rhyme is used every second and fourth line and the stanzas frequently end with a horrific line such as ‘put the gun to his temple and fired’. This adds to the shocking focus in the poem.
Carol Ann Duffy uses structure and form in ‘Comprehension’ to discuss the environment at schools by using her ventriloquist techniques by using seven different characters. Each one has a unique view, so the poet can use several opinions on tension among youths. Carol Ann Duffy uses enjambement in this poem so that the poem would be read without any particular rhythm. The structure of Wayne’s sentences are very short and this tells us that he is not properly educated, which may be one of the reason why he is racist, because he does not know how to accept the cultures of others.
Roger McGough uses language in ‘The lesson’ to write about violence and tension in schools. The first two lines in italics is the comical aspect on which the whole poem is based upon. The poet has changed the common question ‘should there be corporal punishment in schools?’ to ‘should there be capital punishment in schools?’ This is a dramatic change of word as corporal punishment used to be accepted and meant that pupils would be cained or whipped for their wrong – doing, whereas capital punishment was abolished in 1965 because it meant certain death. Therefore, the suggestion that children should receive the death penalty for minor acts in the school means that Roger McGough’s ‘The Lesson’ is ironic and is to be taken light-heartedly.
The title ‘The Lesson’ could be interpreted in two ways. It could mean a school lesson such as mathematics or it could mean retribution and then the common cliché ‘Im going to teach you a lesson’ is used in a literal way which creates a sense of danger and fear. Puns are also used in ‘The Lesson’ as the teacher declares that ‘first come, first severed’, which is taken from ‘first come first serve’. At line 36, silence has its hands up, as if to surrender to the teacher. The teacher has won the war. The readers recognize the clichés and puns Roger McGough has cleverly used and this makes the poem more comical for us to read. ‘School-speak’ such as ‘Homework will be set’ and ‘Please may I leave the room sir?’ is used to help the readers feel comfortable placing an odd situation in a well-known place.
Violent verbs such as ‘hacked’ and ‘fired’ are used throughout the poem to add aggression to the poem, as do fierce nouns such as ‘chaos’ and ‘blast’. These key words help the reader get a clearer visual image of the classroom. Throughout the poem, any speech the teacher uses is sadistic and sometimes sarcastic. This adds to the comic exaggeration. The language used in ‘The Lesson’ is vital for Roger McGough to write about violence in schools. Without as many language techniques used, the poem would be dull and perhaps would make the ironic, comical side less obvious.
Carol Ann Duffy uses language in ‘Comprehension’ to write about violence and tension in schools. The title ‘Comprehension’ means that ‘All comers are welcome’. This is meant to be sarcastic because it is clear from the seven stanzas that not everyone is greeted with the same respect. Wayne is the most racist and we see this when he tells us that he supports the National Front as they are well known for being a racist party. ‘I spit on your grave’ was banned by the BBFC in the 1980s because it was seen as too violent. Wayne’s stanza revolves around violence and Carol Ann Duffy has the name of political parties and films which are well known for being based on violent behaviour to help the reader get a clear image of Wayne and what type of student he is whilst in school.
Wayne also tells us his hobbies, which include ‘Paki-bashing’. We know from this that he has been violent towards people from other nationalities and yet he seems proud of this. He refers to the immigrants as ‘them’ as he insinuates that they are taking all the jobs, he is bitter. There is definite tension between Wayne and immigrants, it is as if he does not believe they have the right to be in the country. The sixth speaker refers to Sikhs as he says how his sister went out with ‘one’. He separates him as if he has no identity. ‘There was murder’ suggests that the family were not happy with the relationship and this leads us to believe there is tension with this speaker and the Sikh community. He says Sikhs are ‘different’ and that ‘You cant help taking the piss’. He is mocking them, which most probably leads to violence in the school. Carol Ann Duffy uses the reactions the children have to immigrants to write about violence in schools. It is clear from the way the characters speak and what they speak of that people from other cultures are not welcome in their community.
Roger McGough and Carol Ann Duffy both discuss violence and tension in schools, but in very different ways. Roger McGough uses the teacher’s feelings and turns this into an exaggerated, comical poem whereas Carol Ann Duffy uses the voices of her stereotypical characters. However they differentiate, both poets agree on the idea that school is no longer the safe place it ought to be.
