‘When I left you tried not to cry’
Here the use of ‘you’ shows up the new, personal relationship between father and daughter. The daughter is talking directly to her father about who he has become. In the present, where ‘you’ is used, the father has become weaker and, even though he dislikes admitting it, needs his daughter’s help.
Fanthorpe also uses the descriptions of objects in ‘Old Man, Old Man’ to hint at this new ‘weakness’. ‘recalcitrant / Things in bottles,’ describes not only disorderly things in bottles, but could also address the possible disobedience of his daughters, the memory loss and ageing which he cannot control either.
In ‘Old Man, Old Man’ Fanthorpe used a variety of colloquial and poetic language. The poetic language is mainly towards the end of the poem and involves the reader as he tries to comprehend it, as well as show the old man’s confusion as he comes to terms with his amnesia.
‘So obdurate in your contracted world’
shows how the old man is still stubborn, selfish and too proud to be truly thankful for his daughter’s assistance. The more difficult poetic language conveys confusion, through the reader’s feelings towards the language, as well as the physical change in the old man. ‘I am only a cloud’ suggests he is going blind, so that his daughter is a cloud in his vision.
The form of the poems varies totally. Both are free verse, therefore having no specific metre. ‘Not My Best Side’ particularly relies on the layout because of its significant three stanzas. There is no other way that this poem could be laid out without confusing the character’s points of view, or making the meaning of the poem unclear. If the stanzas were all ‘stuck’ together in one long verse, the characters still would not stand out and the appearance of the poem may be less appealing, looking more like a long mass of words.
Humour is used in ‘Not My Best Side’ to make the poem more enjoyable while having a serious underlying point. The humour is successful because, although the poem is based on a medieval story, the language is very modern and gives the verses a comical twist. Fanthorpe refers to modern day issues, like acne, to give the poem humour,
‘I mean, / What was he like underneath all the hardware? / He might have acne, black heads or even / Bad breath for all I could tell,’
I find the tone of this statement humorous because looks are a definite issue today, and a medieval maiden thinking like that – is it normal?! The fact that looks, acne and bad breath are such big issues today, helps present the point that it is very difficult to break out of the stereotypes set by society, as well as making the characters seem real to the reader. These modern stereotypes allow the characters to break out of the stereotypes set by the painting and so, I think, Fanthorpe is trying to say that we should get to know the real person and not be judgmental and discriminatory.
In the picture of St. George and the dragon there are three stereotypes – the evil dragon, the helpless maiden and the knight in shining armour. Fanthorpe has changed those in the picture to a new and modern, but equally stereotypical set. However the characters remain in the same situation: the maiden is still the captive, the dragon is still the captor and the knight is saving the maiden. Therefore Fanthorpe has merely changed their personalities, not the situation.
‘Why should my victim be so / unattractive as to be inedible,’
Shows how today the maiden is no longer considered beautiful, thus showing the change of perceptions, especially of the dragon.
While changing the stereotypes set by the myth, the poem challenges them at the same time. In the poem the knight is vain and ladish, ‘You can’t / Do better than me at the moment’ and is not the ‘knight in shining armour’ as represented in the picture. The dragon comes across very differently in the poem, he appears to be shy and self-conscious shown in the first line by ‘Not my best side, I’m afraid’. The dragon is more of a victim than the maiden, being victimised by the knight (having killed him) and the artist (having cut off two of his legs!). However he seems to sympathise with the artist as he refers to him as ‘Poor chap’ perhaps because he also sees the artist as a victim due to his inability in painting. The dragon is actually a kind character and can not sympathise with the ostentatious people in society namely the knight,
‘Why, I asked myself, should my conqueror / Be so ostentatiously beardless,’
I think the dragon is also jealous of the knight and would rather be popular without having to fulfil history. The dragon knows his destiny, death, and knows there is no escape, however it is made clear that he would rather die after a fight and by a more dangerous looking knight. The maiden is also definitely not a victim,
‘It’s hard for a girl to be sure if / She wants to be rescued.’
She is very forward and knows her own mind and we can see that she didn’t really want to be rescued. She states how she ‘didn’t much fancy him’ (the knight) and preferred to know what equipment she was getting at a glance. Through this Fanthorpe is contrasting modern society and the traditional mythical roles. However, even though the maiden is against being rescued, Fanthorpe shows how, even though women are more dominant and opinionated than in the past, there is a certain conclusion: women still go back to the safety of a husband,
‘And a girl’s got to think of her future.’
This shows how, to some degree, women are still confined to their roles set by society.
In comparison ‘Old Man, Old Man’ uses stereotyping much less. It confronts two common stereotypes in men – the powerful businessman, who does little for his family, and a forgetful old man, who is longing for the ‘good old days’ but is too stubborn to ask for the help and love he wants from his daughter who loves his helplessness.
‘I love / Your helplessness you who hate being helpless.’
Shows how the old man finds it extremely difficult to come to terms with the changes he has gone through. He wishes he were still as independent as he once was and dislikes his dependence on his daughter. However he still appears to be stubborn and proud as suggested in the final stanza by
‘Let me find your hammer. Let me / Walk with you o Drury Lane.’
It demonstrates how the daughter has to ask to be allowed to do anything to help him with ‘let’ showing the pleading in order to be allowed to do so. The stereotypical businessman contrasts with the allusion to his organisation, which is perhaps lost by age,
‘…as you forget / If you’ve smoked your timetabled cigarette?’
The old man was once well organised (also shown by the labelling of bottles) but has become frail and forgetful not even remembering the simple things which once ‘ruled’ his life. This transformation from businessman to old man explains the alterations in the man due to ageing.
The relationship between the two characters in ‘Old Man, Old Man’, the man (old and young) and the narrator, who we can assume to be his daughter as she knows his past with disinherited children and failures with daughters unusually well, develops during the poem. Fanthorpe shows his incompetence produced by old age in the second half of the poem. ‘Let me find your hammer.’ sums up the relationship at the end of the poem between the father and daughter especially showing the old man’s helplessness – he can not even find his own hammer. At the start of the poem the old man, in his youth, is made out to have a bad relationship with his daughters, ‘not good with daughters’ and to be very caught up in his business. I have a feeling that the daughter may have been one of his disinherited children or not far off from being so. I think she was very frightened of him when he was younger and is still desperate to be accepted and/or forgiven by her father, which is why the word ‘let’ is repeated.
Many of the characters in the two poems are similar. Comparisons can be made between the old man and the maiden and the knight due to situation and character (respectively). The knight and the old man in his youth relate to each other due to many similarities in character. I think it is hinted that the old man in his youth was self-centred, arrogant and powerful. The old man being described as ‘Lord’ shows us his power and control.
‘Lord once of shed, garage and garden,’
‘Lord’ suggests that he was in control and looked up to by his employees, etc. which is similar to the knight’s character and situation. The knight is also respected by most people because of his profession and self-confidence (he does not care what other people think and in more ways than one). However with him boasting of his diplomas, etc. and wishes of becoming a hero, one could say that he is a typical lad,
‘So why be difficult? / Don’t you want to be killed and/or rescued / in the most contemporary way?
He thinks that people can not do better than he can at the moment therefore he gets to make decisions for other people which of course are favoured by him. Fanthorpe also uses his character to relate to the issue of sexism. He assumes that all women should stick to the roles set by mythology and tradition, and obviously doesn’t look upon those who ‘break out of line’ kindly (Sara Cox being a modern day ladette).
The old man is also similar to the maiden because of their mutual dislike of being helped. They are both intensely headstrong characters and only consented to the aid offered under serious circumstances. The old man grudgingly allows his daughter to help him because he is old and helpless. Likewise the maiden only allows the knight to rescue her once ‘The dragon got himself beaten by the boy’ and when she realised that ‘a girl’s got to think of her future.’ In the end both are forced to give in to their designated social roles and stereotypes.
From closer examination we can see that the relationship of characters within the poems actually compare between the poems. In both poems we can see that one of the characters is competing against something in the poem and one comes out the victor. In ‘Not My Best Side’ the knight is competing against the dragon to see who will die, and in ‘Old Man, Old Man’ the daughter is competing with her father’s business for love and attention. In the end we see that the knight has won because he has killed the dragon and saved the maiden; in ‘Old Man, Old Man’ the daughter wins but by patience. As her father grows old, he needs his daughter’s help and can no longer run his own life, let alone a business, efficiently. The daughter has waited her whole life to be able to do something for her father and it is only in his old age she is allowed to do so.
Within both poems there are many contrasts and comparisons between characters. I think Fanthorpe has managed to create the different characters extremely well through many different methods. She has incorporated poetic techniques to make characters and their feelings stand out, and language to show how personalities have developed. Humour is used to make ‘Not My Best Side’ enjoyable whilst putting across a serious point of view, and imagery to bring ‘Old Man, Old Man’ to life. As well as the different stereotypes employed, Fanthorpe has used the relationships between characters to create many strongly formed personalities within the poems.
I think my favourite poem out of the two is ‘Not My Best Side’, purely because of the humour and the light-hearted way of conveying a serious point. I also feel I can identify better with it because it covers many common, modern day issues, which have affected me more than the effects of old age.
I feel that Fanthorpe, in both poems, has made a lasting impression on the reader. The humour of ‘Not My Best Side, has certainly moved me, and I admire the ingenuity of taking a picture and changing the personalities of the characters. Fanthorpe adds depth to ‘Old Man, Old Man’ by subtly suggesting the old man’s confusion on a level below the everyday situations. In this way the poem conveys the difficult changes of ageing in a touching manner.
