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.

Do you have any age or gender bias in your opinions about relationships at different ages?

What are your reactions to these images?

The young are walking on the riverbank,arms around each other’s waists and shoulders,Pretending to be looking at the waterliliesand what might be a nest of some kind, overthere , which two who are clamped togethermouth to mouth have forgotten about.

Continuous possibilities leading to greater things (sea)

Interlocked

Romantic

Implies a wish for privacy or for a home

Syntax helps to portray convoluted awkwardness of kissing in public – or of other witnessing displays of affection.

Like resuscitation

End stop line

(1st stanza about the young)

The others, making courteous detoursaround them, talk, stop talking, kiss.They can see no one older than themselves.It’s their river. They’ve got all day.

Suggests a lack of courtesy from the couple; obvious they are in love & others respect this.

Syntax helps to portray convoluted awkwardness of kissing in public.

Selfishness and obliviousness to others.

Time is unimportant to the young; caught in moment; unaware of time.

Voyeuristic – they are in that place, at that time the only ones who have ever been in love there.

Voyeuristic - a fascinated observer

Seeing’s not everything. As this verymoment the middle-aged are kissingin the back of taxis, on the wayto airports and stations. Their mouth and tongues

Public displays not needed to justify affection

(2nd stanza is about the old)

More private, suggests affluence.

Implies jet-setting/ cosmopolitan life

Sensual

The young couple’s moment is shared by the older couple; the young are not the only ones in love

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

Juxtaposition of adjectives indicate more experience, age.Compared to when they were younger.

Parenthesis suggests control over emotions

Suggests desperation + frustration similar to line 2

together that it hurts: it may leave markson their not of course youthful skin, which they won’tnotice. They too may have futures.

Possible painful consequences

Discourse marker influences sense of conversational dialogue

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.

Attraction not dependent on physicality. Compare to poems which

explore relationships at different ages

PEEEPoint 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.

DiscussHow 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?

What other poems consider the relationship between LOVE and TIME.

Young Old