close and intimate relationship. In line two it describes how his Dad still warms his mother's slippers
by the gas. This shows they had a very close relationship as slippers are very personal items, which he
handles as if he was helping his wife. Other descriptions hint to us that they were an old couple.
Slippers, transport passes and hot water bottles are all items that the elderly would use. In the Sick
Equation, the opposite is true. "School" and "Teachers cane" are giving us a picture of a child, though
I do not believe the poem was written when Brian Patten was a boy as he talks about when he was
growing up and at the end of the poem, reflects on his childhood.
In Long Distance, we are able to create in our minds a vivid picture of a man who is lying to himself as
he can't accept the truth that his wife is dead. Tony Harrison points out how severe this is in his poem
in many ways. In line twelve of the third verse he tells us how "He knew she'd just popped out to get
the tea". The use of italics in this way outlines how definite and how strongly his father felt. He didn't
believe, he knew. The poem also shows Tony Harrison's father had created a solitary world of his
own. It was solitary because if anybody else was there his fantasy would be gone, the harsh truth
become apparent, his bubble burst! "You couldn't drop in, you had to phone. He'd put you off an hour
to give him time to clear away her things."
Once again the opposite is true in The Sick Equation with his ironic us of "home sweet home". He is
throwing away love and keeping love away from him. He does not let himself fall in love as he
believes that it would be like the horror and depression that his parents marriage is. "I never let love
stay long enough to take root," means that he would never get emotionally attached to someone that he
loved, in fear that it would turn out like his parents attempt. He describes in the fourth verse how he
stayed single out of choice. Every wedding he attended he took comfort in believing that "The shadow
of that albatross - divorce" was looming over the groom and bride. He uses imagery of flight
frequently in this verse. The albatross is a very large bird, giving us the idea that it is inescapable due
to its power looming over them as if inevitable, and he believed that they were free when the divorce
came, describing it as "flying free". He has a very negative and warped idea of marriage as his parents,
even though they hated each other, stayed together (probably thinking it was better for him than having
divorced parents). Yet at the end of the poem Brian Patten acknowledges that his ideas and beliefs on
this subject are wrong and absurd and that he will no longer be part of this sick equation. "I was wrong
of course, just as those who brought me up were wrong.And in their sick equation not stay
caught."
Both poets, even though their poems are different, use the same effects, such as enjambment and
imagery. Tony Harrison's poem is written in the style of blank verse, containing rhyme in an ABAB
form for the first three verses and ending with an ABBA formation to conclude his poem. Brian Patten
on the other hand uses free verse, occasionally adding a rhyming couplet (but very rarely). The verses
do not stick to any form whatsoever and neither do the length of the lines. He uses enjambment and
personification, describing divorce as a bird (the albatross) giving imagery to love "taking root". He
also has a reoccurring theme of flight, in that divorce was flying free and that he couldn't fly as souls
(his parents) weighed him down. Tony Harrison also had a reoccurring theme in his poem. Telephone
calls were often brought up in his poem, mainly at the end "and the disconnected number I still call"
and also in the title.
Both poems are written to get their message across. While Tony Harrison's message is that "life ends
with death and that is all", Brian Patten realises that his thoughts on marriage were wrong (which he
admits in the conclusion of his poem) and others shouldn't make the same mistake as he did.
