Paul Durcan, Sport

Who?

narrator father

Factual information we get

Where?

What?

What can you say about the narrator’s relationship with his father?
Use quotes to support your views.

Very distant. The narrator suffers from a lack of consideration (love) from his father.

Find examples of:

grotesque imagery Men with gapped teeth, red faces,

Oily, frizzy hair, bushy eyebrows.
sports commentary I made three or four spectacular saves,
Diving full stretch to turn
A certain goal around the corner,
Leaping high to tip another certain goal
Over the bar for a point.

understatements Sniffing your approval, you shook hands

with me.
'Well played, son'.
I had not been mediocre.

How do those three things contribute to giving a poignant account of the narrator’s
relationship with his father?
The grotesque imagery and sports commentaries give a humourous and ironic quality to the
text which contrast with the very serious theme of how little love and validation the
narrator receives from his father

Consider how the writer starts and ends his poem. Do you think the beginning and ending
are effective?
Both the beginning and ending are brutally honest. They state in a very definitive manner
that the writer suffers from the lack of consideration he gets from his father. The sharp,
assertive tone contrasts with the simultaneously grotesque and epic tone of the report on
the game.

This text is 346 words long. Do you consider it to be descriptive or narrative?

Say if the following criteria are met. If so, give an example.

 Content is complex, engaging and effective.

1. Structure is secure, well balanced and carefully managed for deliberate
effect.

 The plot is well-defined and strongly developed with features of fiction

writing such as

2. description,
3. characterisation and
4. effective climax,
and
5. convincing details.

6. Precise, well-chosen vocabulary and

7. varied sentence structures, chosen for effect.
8. Consistent well-chosen register suitable for the context.