Education for Leisure

By Carol Ann Duffy

Education for LeisureToday I am going to kill something. Anything.I have had enough of being ignored and todayI am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets.

What is the impact of the first line on the reader?

What is the feeling of the character and how do you know?

How does the rhyming structure affect the tone of the poem and highlight the mental state of the character?

Education for LeisureI squash a fly against the window with my thumb.We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was inanother language and now the fly is in another language.

I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name.

What does the character believe school has taught them?

Why is “Shakespeare” used as a one word sentence?

What is the significance of the last line? What does it tell us about the character and their actions?

Education for LeisureI am a genius. I could be anything at all, with halfthe chance. But today I am going to change the world.

Something’s world. The cat avoids me. The catknows I am a genius, and has hidden itself.

Why does the character repeat the word “genius” and what else could it mean?

What is the significance of the use of short sentences?

Why does the character repeat the word “cat”? Does the repetition suggest an emotional state or feeling?

Education for LeisureI pour the goldfish down the bog, I pull the chain.I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking.Once a fortnight. I walk the two miles into townfor signing on. They don’t appreciate my autograph.

Why is the character targeting small creatures?

How should the reader be responding to the character? What feelings do we have and how does the character want us to respond?

Who are “they”?

Education for LeisureThere is nothing left to kill. I dial the radioand tell the man he’s talking to a superstar.He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out.The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.

Why is the character cut off when on the radio?

Why do the “pavements glitter suddenly”?

How is the reader drawn into the poem in the last line?