Write down what you think the objects below might have to do with a love poem (Nothing is not an acceptable answer!!!)

As we study this poem you will learn:
• the story of the poem
• be introduced to the terms,
– Complex Rhyme Scheme: Repetition:
Pace/Tempo: Rhythm: Tone: Enjambment
• how to read out the poem to the class in a group
• You will also complete some mini tasks and a test and an assignment on the poem.

let me be your vacuum cleaner breathing in your dust let me be your ford cortina i will never rust if you like your coffee hot let me be your coffee pot you call the shots i wanna be yours let me be your raincoat for those frequent rainy days let me be your dreamboat when you wanna sail away let me be your teddy bear take me with you anywhere i don't care i wanna be yours let me be your electric meter i will not run out let me be the electric heater you get cold without let me be your setting lotion hold your hair with deep devotion deep as the deep atlantic ocean that's how deep is my emotion deep deep deep deep de deep deep i don't wanna be hers i wanna be yours

• This is a love poem and the poet is trying to prove to his lady-love how useful he is and how much he loves her.
• He is even prepared to let her take the lead in running the relationship.
• At the end of the poem he declares that he does not wish to be with some other woman, he wants her.

Mini Task 1
• In your group practice reading out your section of the poem.
• You can allocate the words/lines any way that you want to, but everyone must be involved and you must all say at least one line together.
(You cannot all read all of it together!)

The Structure Of The Poem
The poem is composed of three stanzas, the first two have two alternate rhyming couplets and a rhyming triplet. The final stanza starts with alternate rhyming couplets but then has some unrhymed lines between the quartet. The final stanza ends with a rhyming couplet. This means the poem has a COMPLEX RHYME SCHEME.
Because of this, an easier way to describe the rhyme scheme for
i wanna be yours is to use letters to represent the rhymed lines and an underscore _ to represent an unrhymed line. Ex.- ababccc_ .

Mini Task 2
• On your copy of the poem against the lines, write down the rhyme scheme for Stanza 2 & 3.

let me be your raincoat a for those frequent rainy days b let me be your dreamboat a when you wanna sail away b let me be your teddy bear c take me with you anywhere c i don't care c i wanna be yours _ let me be your electric meter a i will not run out b let me be the electric heater a you get cold without b let me be your setting lotion c hold your hair _ with deep devotion c deep as the deep _ atlantic ocean c that's how deep is my emotion c deep deep deep deep de deep deep _ i don't wanna be hers d i wanna be yours d

The Structure Of The Poem
o The key feature of this poem is the use of REPETITION. In i
wanna be yours John Cooper Clarke uses repetition for rhythmic purposes and to emphasize the point he is trying to make. There are 139 words in this poem and 81 of them are repetitions – more than half the poem!
o Because of the formal rhyme scheme and the large number of repetitions the poem has a very strong RHYTHM and the
PACE/TEMPO of this poem is fast. o The other purpose of the repetitions is to demonstrate how much he loves her, how useful he can be and how deep is his love. To prove this he gives us the constant, plaintive refrains
‘let me be’ and ‘I wanna be yours’ as well as the section devoted to the Atlantic Ocean.

Mini Task 3
• Write down what you think the TONE of the poem is.

The Structure Of The Poem
o The tone of the poem is very ‘light’ and funny in places because of the strange selection of objects that John Cooper Clarke uses to demonstrate his love. o However under the surface there is a darker and more serious side to poem as it also about betrayal because the next to last line says “i don’t want t be hers” . So the poet is either in a relationship with another woman and wants to ‘dump’ her to go with the woman he is talking to in the poem, or at some point in the past he was with the woman he talks to and has left her to go with this other woman. This makes “i don’t want t be hers” the key line in the poem and is essentially what the poem is all about.
There is also the reference to not running out – perhaps this is what he did before that caused the relationship to end.

Mini Task 4
• Write down what you think happens to the punctuation in lines in the poem here?
let me be your raincoat for those frequent rainy days let me be your dreamboat when you wanna sail away let me be your teddy bear take me with you anywhere

Mini Task 3
• Write down what you think happens to the punctuation in lines in the poem here.?
• The sense in the lines in each couplet runs on from one line to the next.
let me be your raincoat  for those frequent rainy days. let me be your dreamboat  when you wanna sail away. let me be your teddy bear,  take me with you anywhere.

The Structure Of The Poem
o Enjambment is a French word that means to step across or step over. In poetry this means the sense in one line or stanza runs on to another. Unfortunately there is no punctuation in the poem to help with reading it aloud or to give you clues to the points at which you need to pause for breath. So in one sense the whole poem uses enjambment from start to finish. However in reality, once you are used to the poem you can find the natural breaks in the flow of the text.

The Structure Of The Poem
MINI TASK 4
Put the missing full stops, commas and capital letters into your copy of the poem. Then use an arrow  to mark where you think the
Enjambment is.

L et me be your vacuum cleaner 
B reathing in your dust .
L et me be your F ord C ortina ,

I will never rust .
I f you like your coffee hot ,

L et me be your coffee pot .
Y ou call the shots .
I wanna be yours .
L et me be your raincoat

F or those frequent rainy days .
L et me be your dreamboat

W hen you wanna sail away .
L et me be your teddy bear ,

T ake me with you anywhere .
I don't care .
I wanna be yours .
L et me be your electric meter .
I will not run out .
L et me be the electric heater 
Y ou get cold without .
L et me be your setting lotion 
H old your hair 
W ith deep devotion ,
D eep as the deep 
A tlantic O cean 
T hat's how deep is my emotion .
D eep deep deep deep de deep deep .
I don't wanna be hers .
I wanna be yours .
Over 50 changes !
11 Enjambaments

The Structure Of The Poem
o The poem uses imagery of this strange selection of objects as proof of love. o Some objects are useful and others intimate/romantic.
MINI TASK 5
Write out a list of the objects used in the poem

The Structure Of The Poem
MINI TASK 6
Now draw up a table with two columns and place the objects mentioned in the poem into one of the two columns. What do you notice about the list you draw up?
Useful Objects Intimate/Romantic Objects

The Structure Of The Poem
Useful Objects
Vacuum Cleaner
Ford Cortina
Coffee Pot
Electric Meter
Electric Heater
Intimate/Romantic Objects
Raincoat
Dreamboat
Teddy Bear
Setting Lotion
Atlantic Ocean
You should have noticed that all the objects in the first stanza are useful, the objects in the second stanza are intimate or romantic and the third stanza is a mix of both. The Atlantic Ocean
I have placed as a romantic object as it is used to prove the depth of his love.

Assignment
• Using examples to support your answer outline the elements that John Cooper Clarke uses to make i wanna be yours an interesting and unusual poem.
400-600 words by:
Grade 9 – Sun 16 Sept
Grade 10 – Mon 17 Sept