Unrelated Incidents Tom Leonard ECS LEARNING + COMMUNITY

Unrelated Incidents Key teaching points: To read the poem To understand the poet’s attitude to language and social class. To understand the methods employed in this poem To make comparisons with ‘Search for My Tongue’ Key Terms: Accent Dialect Standard English R.P.

The Poet Tom Leonard is from Glasgow. The poem expresses his anger about the way that the BBC News broadcasts were monopolised by people with ‘posh’ southern accents. The poem is humorous and full of contradictions. He is being deliberately provocative to make us think about the issues. Tom Leonard is best known for poetry written in the urban speech of the Glasgow area, a mode which was revolutionary and innovative when his first collection Six Glasgow Poems was published in His work has exposed the pernicious condescension in the literary establishment towards the vernacular of working class people, in both the spoken and the written word. He is motivated by a fiercely honest, socialist conviction. In his editorial introduction to Radical Renfrew: Poetry from the French Revolution to the First World War (1990), he lambasts language snobbery and the literary values that oppress those who 'had lost the right to equality of dialogue with those in possession of Queen's English or "good" Scots'.

Key Terms What do we mean by accent? What do we mean by dialect? How has the spelling been changed to suggest a Glasgow accent?

The speaker Who is supposed to be speaking the poem? What point is the presenter making?

Unrelated Incidents Unrelated Incidents Contradictions: The newsreader is talking in a strong working class Glaswegian accent BUT: - while talking in this accent he claims to be speaking with a “BBC accent” (i.e. a posh southern accent – or Received Pronunciation) While speaking in a Glaswegian accent he says that using such an accent would make people question the truth of what he is saying. The newsreader says that people who talk in a Glasgow accent are “scruff”. The poet disagrees with this

The contradictions The contradictions Why do you think the writer used these contradictions? To be deliberately provocative and to make the readers think about the points he is making Complete the following chart

Unrelated Incidents The Poet and the Announcer The Announcer SaysThe Poet Thinks A BBC (posh) accent is needed to convince people that the news they hear is the truth People who talk with broad Scottish accents are “scruffs” If the announcer spoke in a broad Scottish accent everyone would think he was a scruff A ‘correct’ accent is important like correct spelling People who cannot or do not want to speak in a ‘posh’ southern accent should shut up

So, what is the difference between the newsreader’s and the poet’s points of view?

More contradictions More contradictions Now try to find anything else in the poem that does not seem to make sense, for example: this is me tokn yir right way a spellin

Who are the final words of the poem addressed to? How do you know?

Look at the layout of the poem Look at the layout of the poem Why might it be written like this? What machine does a newsreader use so that they always look as if they facing the audience? The machine, an autocue, scrolls news so that it can be read. Now, using the following slide, write a few paragraphs comparing ‘Search for my Tongue’ and ‘Unrelated Incidents’

Comparing the poems Comparing the poems Bhatt has written about Her feelings about speaking two languages seem to be ………. Tom Leonard’s poem is on a similar subject in that The two poems use very different methods, for example I think ……………….. is a more effective poem because ………………….. (Give examples)