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.
What are your
reactions to
these images?
Do you have any age or gender bias in your
opinions about relationships at different ages?
Continuous possibilities leading to
greater things (sea)
(1st stanza about the young)
Interlocked
The young are walking on the riverbank,
arms around each other’s waists and shoulders,
Romantic
Pretending to be looking at the waterlilies
Implies a wish for privacy
and what might be a nest of some kind, over or for a home
there , which two who are clamped together
Syntax helps to portray
mouth to mouth have forgotten about.
convoluted awkwardness
End stop line
Like resuscitation
of kissing in public – or of
other witnessing displays
of affection.
Voyeuristic – they are in that place, at that time
the only ones who have ever been in love there.
Suggests a lack of
courtesy from the
couple; obvious
they are in love &
others respect this.
The others, making courteous detours
around them, talk, stop talking, kiss.
They can see no one older than themselves.
It’s their river. They’ve got all day.
Selfishness and obliviousness to
others.
Voyeuristic - a fascinated observer
Syntax helps to
portray
convoluted
awkwardness of
kissing in public.
Time is unimportant to the
young; caught in moment;
unaware of time.
(2nd stanza is about the old)
Public displays not needed to
justify affection
The young couple’s moment is shared by the
older couple; the young are not the only ones
in love
More private, suggests
affluence.
Seeing’s not everything. As this very
jet-setting/
moment the middle-aged are kissing Implies
cosmopolitan life
in the back of taxis, on the way
to airports and stations. Their mouth and tongues
Sensual
Juxtaposition of adjectives indicate more experience, age.
Compared to
when they were
younger.
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
Suggests desperation +
frustration similar to line 2
Parenthesis suggests control over emotions
Possible painful consequences
together that it hurts: it may leave marks
on their not of course youthful skin, which they won’t
notice. They too may have futures.
Discourse marker influences sense of
conversational dialogue
Attraction not dependent
on physicality.
Compare to poems which
explore relationships at
different ages
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.
PEEE
Point 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.
Discuss
How 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?
Young
Old
What other poems consider the relationship
between LOVE and TIME.