*
My father thought it bloody queer,
the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my ear
half hidden by a mop of hair. "You’ve lost your head.
If that’s how easily you’re led
you should’ve had it through your nose instead.“
And even then I hadn’t had the nerve to numb
the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through the skin,
then wear a safety-pin. It took a jeweller’s gun
to pierce the flesh, and then a friend
to thread the sleeper in, and where it slept
the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept.
At twenty-nine, it comes as no surprise to hear
my own voice breaking like a tear, released like water,
cried from way back in the spiral of the ear. If I were you,
I’d take it out and leave it out next year.
Simon Armitage
Themes
• Son trying to be independent, father
disapproving
• Humorous tone and rhymes, but shows
pain in remembering his adolescence
• Could be a trivial subject, but shows how
his attempt at rebellion was not very
successful
The poem is written in the
first person. The speaker in
the poem is remembering an
event from their childhood.
Starting with these words
shows focus is on relationship
with father and his reaction, not
just the event of the piercing.
The word queer could mean ‘odd’
but it could also mean that his
dad thinks the earring looks gay.
Shows father’s down-to-earth
attitude. Double meaning.
My father thought it bloody queer,
the day I rolled home with a ring of silver in my ear
half hidden by a mop of hair. "You’ve lost your head.
If that’s how easily you’re led
you should’ve had it through your nose instead.“
His father thinks he is
easily influenced by others.
This image is like a bull –
bulls have rings through
their noses.
This poem is about the relationships between parents and their children. The
child is trying to show his independence. The parent is showing their
disapproval.
He wasn’t brave enough to
pierce his ear himself.
The word “nerve” suggests
he could not take the pain.
Alliterationeffect?
Contrasts his feeble approach with that of others
who pierced their own ears. Makes fun of himself. Is
he also ashamed of his cowardice? It’s not a very
successful teenage rebellion…
And even then I hadn’t had the nerve to numb
the lobe with ice, then drive a needle through the skin,
then wear a safety-pin. It took a jeweller’s gun
to pierce the flesh, and then a friend
to thread the sleeper in, and where it slept
the hole became a sore, became a wound, and wept.
The piercing became
infected. He has
inflicted unnecessary
pain on himself.
This word is
ambiguous. It could
refer to the wound
or he could be crying
with pain.
This sounds painful
and violent.
What do these words
imply?
The speaker is the
poem is now grown
up.
He remembers his
voice breaking as a
teenager. Maybe it
is breaking now with
emotion.
The boy sounds like his
dad here. It seems
that the speaker has
come to see things the
same way his dad did.
At twenty-nine, it comes as no surprise to hear
my own voice breaking like a tear, released like water,
cried from way back in the spiral of the ear. If I were you,
I’d take it out and leave it out next year.
This is his voice – but it sounds like what his father
might have said. Has he come to share his father’s
values? Is removing the earring a sign of maturity?
Or a sign that he is now ready to conform?
He couldn’t admit the mistake he
had made at the time. Why?
The first two stanzas tell the reader about the event. In the final stanza,
the speaker in the poem is grown up. This poem is about somebody looking
back on an event in their youth.
The son attempts to free himself from his parents but he doesn’t discover
himself – he is led by others.
Is the son:
• weak and insecure?
• rebellious and independent?
In the final stanza, is the boy admitting that his father was right?
Do you think he was wise to take the earring out?
Or, has he become old and boring like his dad?
Structure
• 3 part structure: first 2 stanzas show what
happened in the past, last stanza brings
poet up to date with what the event means
to the poet when he is 29
• Conversational style, with very frequent
irregular rhymes, which emphasize key
words: queer/ear, hear/year
Linking themes.
• Death/violence= ‘Hitcher’, ‘Salome’, ‘Education for
leisure’, ‘Anne Hathaway’ ‘The Man he killed’ and
‘Laboratory’, ‘On my first sonne’
• Growing up/changing relationships= ‘Mother any
distance greater than a span’, ‘My father thought it
bloody queer’, ‘Kid’, ‘Song of the old mother’, ‘On my
first sonne’
• Attitudes towards men/broken relationships= ‘Salome’,
‘Havisham’, ‘Anne Hathaway’, ‘Laboratory’
• Social inequality/frustrations= ‘Stealing’, ‘Those
bastards in their mansions’, ‘Education for leisure’, ‘The
song of the old mother’