Them And [Uz]

Question 1

Them and [Uz] — significance of title

Answer 1

Use of phonetic alphabet, makes it clear he is norther. Emphasis that he uses improper English/grammar. Audience struggle to rad aloud, allowing us to empathise with young Harrison

Question 2

For professors Richard Hoggart and Leon Cortez

Answer 2

Hoggart- academic professor
Cortez- comedian, someone we would not usually regard as a professor, pointing out similarity between high and low art.

Question 3

4 words only mi art aches

Answer 3

Harrison was only able to speak 4 words before he was interrupted, showed how working class language/ identity was seen as insignificant,

Question 4

I played the drunken porter in Macbeth

Answer 4

First regular line of iambic pentameter
Harrison plays the comedic character due to his lower place in society.

Question 5

(Even cockney Keats?)

Answer 5

Silent rebellion, rebellion in poetry as it interrupts the poem.

Question 6

‘Your speech is in the hand of the receivers.’

Answer 6

Receivers are the ones with administrative power
Speech in hands of receiver implies his speech is of little value
RP speakers have more ownership and power than non RP speakers

Question 7

Leasehold poetry

Answer 7

Describes how the middle class do not own poetry permanently but instead temporarily.

Question 8

Second half of poem- teacher

Answer 8

Teacher does not speak, Harrison gives a voice to his younger self.

Question 9

‘E-nun-ci-ate!’

Answer 9

Mimicking an RP accent
Shows the effort it takes to force speaking that way, criticising teachers for forcing him to speak this way.

Question 10

Litterchewer

Answer 10

Pun on literature, spat the bones refers to how it felt to speak RP English.
Chews up and spits up RP english and replaces it with his own language, form or rebellion

Question 11

RIP, RP, RIP TW

Answer 11

Killing of initials, act of rebellion, only time in poetry to write abbreviations

Question 12

My first mention in the Times automatically made Tony Anthony.

Answer 12

Changes his name, suggesting a working class person could not possibly be an established writer. He builds up the rebellion through the poem, to just be labelled at the end. Hopeless/lack of catharsis
Working class man could not be a successful poet, suggests acceptance of label

Question 13

Ending the sentence with by, with or from

Answer 13

Going against a rule of literature shows rebellion against the expectation of standard english from people who are not of middle class. Resistance to RP english

Question 14

Flat cap - them and uz

Answer 14

By doffing his flat clap, he seems subservient, showing the inevitability of the exclusion of the working class.