My father thought it bloody queer the day

* My father thought it bloody queer, the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my ear half hidden by a mop of hair. "You’ve lost your head. If that’s how easily you’re led you should’ve had it through your nose instead. “ And even then I hadn’t had the nerve to numb the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through the skin, then wear a safety-pin. It took a jeweller’s gun to pierce the flesh, and then a friend to thread the sleeper in, and where it slept the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept. At twenty-nine, it comes as no surprise to hear my own voice breaking like a tear, released like water, cried from way back in the spiral of the ear. If I were you, I’d take it out and leave it out next year. Simon Armitage

Themes • Son trying to be independent, father disapproving • Humorous tone and rhymes, but shows pain in remembering his adolescence • Could be a trivial subject, but shows how his attempt at rebellion was not very successful

The poem is written in the first person. The speaker in the poem is remembering an event from their childhood. Starting with these words shows focus is on relationship with father and his reaction, not just the event of the piercing. The word queer could mean ‘odd’ but it could also mean that his dad thinks the earring looks gay. Shows father’s down-to-earth attitude. Double meaning. My father thought it bloody queer, the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my ear half hidden by a mop of hair. "You’ve lost your head. If that’s how easily you’re led you should’ve had it through your nose instead. “ His father thinks he is easily influenced by others. This image is like a bull – bulls have rings through their noses. This poem is about the relationships between parents and their children. The child is trying to show his independence. The parent is showing their disapproval.

He wasn’t brave enough to pierce his ear himself. The word “nerve” suggests he could not take the pain. Alliterationeffect? Contrasts his feeble approach with that of others who pierced their own ears. Makes fun of himself. Is he also ashamed of his cowardice? It’s not a very successful teenage rebellion… And even then I hadn’t had the nerve to numb the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through the skin, then wear a safety-pin. It took a jeweller’s gun to pierce the flesh, and then a friend to thread the sleeper in, and where it slept the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept. The piercing became infected. He has inflicted unnecessary pain on himself. This word is ambiguous. It could refer to the wound or he could be crying with pain. This sounds painful and violent. What do these words imply?

The speaker is the poem is now grown up. He remembers his voice breaking as a teenager. Maybe it is breaking now with emotion. The boy sounds like his dad here. It seems that the speaker has come to see things the same way his dad did. At twenty-nine, it comes as no surprise to hear my own voice breaking like a tear, released like water, cried from way back in the spiral of the ear. If I were you, I’d take it out and leave it out next year. This is his voice – but it sounds like what his father might have said. Has he come to share his father’s values? Is removing the earring a sign of maturity? Or a sign that he is now ready to conform? He couldn’t admit the mistake he had made at the time. Why?

The first two stanzas tell the reader about the event. In the final stanza, the speaker in the poem is grown up. This poem is about somebody looking back on an event in their youth. The son attempts to free himself from his parents but he doesn’t discover himself – he is led by others. Is the son: • weak and insecure? • rebellious and independent? In the final stanza, is the boy admitting that his father was right? Do you think he was wise to take the earring out? Or, has he become old and boring like his dad?

Structure • 3 part structure: first 2 stanzas show what happened in the past, last stanza brings poet up to date with what the event means to the poet when he is 29 • Conversational style, with very frequent irregular rhymes, which emphasize key words: queer/ear, hear/year

Linking themes. • Death/violence= ‘Hitcher’, ‘Salome’, ‘Education for leisure’, ‘Anne Hathaway’ ‘The Man he killed’ and ‘Laboratory’, ‘On my first sonne’ • Growing up/changing relationships= ‘Mother any distance greater than a span’, ‘My father thought it bloody queer’, ‘Kid’, ‘Song of the old mother’, ‘On my first sonne’ • Attitudes towards men/broken relationships= ‘Salome’, ‘Havisham’, ‘Anne Hathaway’, ‘Laboratory’ • Social inequality/frustrations= ‘Stealing’, ‘Those bastards in their mansions’, ‘Education for leisure’, ‘The song of the old mother’