Skip to main content

Analysis of Fraud

Synopsis= It is widely believed that Duffy based the poem 'Fraud' on a man name Robert Maxwell, however his prior name was Jon Ludwick Hock. Maxwell managed to carve a new identity for himself in England after moving from Czechoslovakia where he became a largely successful MP and media head. However after his death there was a burst of controversy surrounding Maxwell as it was believed that there was a lot of flaws in his finances, mainly from pensions.

 Key Quotations + Analysis
1.) "I spoke the English"
  • Here the speaker is trying to affirm his English identity, however the deviant grammar contradicts this as no native English person would make this mistake. As a result this error flaws the speakers cover and almost unveils his true identity.
2.) "Politicians in and out of their pram" 
  • This line has a lot of plosive language which can convey the speakers bitterness towards politics, his bitter tone is somewhat ironic as Robert Maxwell himself was a politician therefore it is flawed with hypocrisy as he is somewhat remarking the politicians as childish. 
  • The plosive pattern also increase the pace of which the line is read, this mimics the speaker trying to escape their fraudulent past.
3.) "I paid for a butch and a femme"
  • This line demonstrates that the speaker is capable of using their power and wealth in a sinister fashion such as prostitution. This could furthermore portray the underhand behaviour used by the wealthy which blatantly leads to corruption.
  • "Butch and a femme" are terms often used to describe a stereotype of a lesbian, ironic that these terms are used in a line which has implying connotations to prostitution and a males abuse of power. Could suggest that due to corrupt males society is flawed.
4.) "I gargled my name"
  • The word choice gargle conveys a very disjointed way of communication, this implies that the speaker cannot recall their name fluently as he is drowning in the persona and lies that he has crafted. 
  • Even when the speaker is drowning, they are still trying to convince he reader of this fraudulent identity, even though no one can understand him.
5.) "Bubbles and blood and phlegm" 
  • This phrase is a deviant collocation for the idiom "blood, sweat and tears", this could convey that the speaker believes they have put in enough effort to convince the public of this crafted identity
  • The fact that he incorrectly says the idiom links to the line "I spoke the English" as that was also wrongly said, as a result this further flaws the speakers identity. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of First Love

Synopsis= Duffy focuses this poem on the impact that is left after going through a first love and the surreal feeling of falling in love that takes over a persona briefly. It is clear to see in this poem that the speaker is now disconnected from their first love but the memories of it are reflected on nostalgically and with pleasure Key Quotations + Analysis= Waking, with a dream of first love forming real words, as close to my lips as lipstick, I speaker your name, after a silence of years, into the pillow, and the power of your name brings me here to the window, naked, to say it again to a garden shaking with light. This was a child's love, and yet I clench my eyes  till the pictures return, unfocused at first, then almost clear, an old film played at a slow speed. All day I will glimpse it, in windows of changing sky,   in mirrors, my lover's eyes, wherever you are. And later a star, long dead , here seems precisely  the size of a tear....
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysis of The Cliche Kid

Synopsis= Duffy uses this poem to explore the themes of mental health and isolation amongst young people and could be perhaps expressing the daily pressures that young people face and the detrimental effects attached to them, shown through the speaker of the poem who is clearly in a deviated mental health state. Key Quotations + Analysis 1.) "The rustle of my fathers ballgown" This initially gives an extremely distorted image of the speakers childhood as they have obviously blurred the gender roles of their mother and father, this distortion could imply that the speaker has lost grip of their identity and do not have clear grasp on what gender role they fit in as they are so lost within cliche/stereotypical perceptions of gender that they are unaware of how to act. This further conveys the emotional turmoil of the speaker because they are confused in their own body.  The word choice "rustle" is significant as it is such a precise sound to remember yet the spe...
Post a Comment
Read more