Kissing by Fleur Adcock LO To understand how

Kissing by Fleur Adcock LO: To understand how Adcock uses structure and the concept of kissing to explore the nature of relationships at different ages.

What are your reactions to these images? Do you have any age or gender bias in your opinions about relationships at different ages?

Continuous possibilities leading to greater things (sea) (1 st stanza about the young) Interlocked The young are walking on the riverbank, arms around each other’s waists and shoulders, Romantic Pretending to be looking at the waterlilies Implies a wish for privacy and what might be a nest of some kind, over or for a home there , which two who are clamped together Syntax helps to portray mouth to mouth have forgotten about. convoluted awkwardness End stop line Like resuscitation of kissing in public – or of other witnessing displays of affection.

Voyeuristic – they are in that place, at that time the only ones who have ever been in love there. Suggests a lack of courtesy from the couple; obvious they are in love & others respect this. The others, making courteous detours around them, talk, stop talking, kiss. They can see no one older than themselves. It’s their river. They’ve got all day. Selfishness and obliviousness to others. Voyeuristic - a fascinated observer Syntax helps to portray convoluted awkwardness of kissing in public. Time is unimportant to the young; caught in moment; unaware of time.

(2 nd stanza is about the old) Public displays not needed to justify affection The young couple’s moment is shared by the older couple; the young are not the only ones in love More private, suggests affluence. Seeing’s not everything. As this very jet-setting/ moment the middle-aged are kissing Implies cosmopolitan life in the back of taxis, on the way to airports and stations. Their mouth and tongues Sensual

Juxtaposition of adjectives indicate more experience, age. are soft and powerful and as moist as ever. Their hands are not inside each other’s clothes (because of the driver) but locked so tightly Parenthesis suggests control over emotions Compared to when they were younger. Suggests desperation + frustration similar to line 2

Possible painful consequences together that it hurts: it may leave marks on their not of course youthful skin, which they won’t notice. They too may have futures. Discourse marker influences sense of conversational dialogue Attraction not dependent on physicality. Compare to poems which explore relationships at different ages Conditional tense – nothing is definite. Also, they can look forward to their future together; just like the young. Conditional tense: to indicate what would happen in the future.

PEEE Point Evidence Explain Expand How does the poet use the idea of kissing to explore the nature of relationships at different ages?

Peer assessment Share your responses, comparing your own views with those of the poet. Swap your answers to the question. Mark each other’s work. Assess how well your partner’s responses: • show an understanding of the use of kissing to communicate thoughts and feelings about relationships; • use the ‘PEEE’ technique to show the link between form and point of view effectively; • demonstrate the ability to make relevant connections between the techniques used and the presentation of the nature of relationships at different ages.

Band Award up to 5 marks, deciding which of the 5 bands the work falls into. 1 Generally sound comparisons. • Some clear evaluation of the different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • Mostly appropriate examples show some support of the points being made. 2 Sound comparisons. • Some clear evaluation of the different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • Appropriate examples show some support of the points being made. 3 Specific and detailed comparisons. • Developed evaluation of the different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • Detailed selection of appropriate examples to support the points being made. 4 Assured comparisons. • Pertinent evaluation of the different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • Assured selection of appropriate examples to support the points being made. 5 • Discriminating comparisons. • Perceptive evaluation of the different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects. • Discriminating selection of examples that fully support the points being made.

Plenary You should have: • understood the ways Adcock has used structure to convey relationships at different stages of life; • responded to the language and emotions of the poem. • Discuss how successfully the poet explores the ways the couples of differing ages react and behave.

Discuss How does the passage of time influence our view of life and the way we live? What are your views of what we think of as characteristic of young people and older people in relationships? Young Old What other poems consider the relationship between LOVE and TIME.