1. Armitage My Father
This is the earring one, where his father has a go at him 4 getting his ear pierced & then he begins to regret what he did as he gets older
What poems can you link this to?

2. Key points
About relationships between parents & children ‘My father thought’
Son asserting his independence
‘I rolled home with a ring of silver in my ear
Half hidden by a mop of hair’
Father’s disapproval ‘You’ve lost your head’
Ear piercing is not as defiant as he would like, half hearted ‘I hadn’t the nerve’
Father’s use of sarcasm ‘you should have had it through your nose instead’

3. A trivial subject?
Doesn’t show true independence from his parents until he is older, can think for himself, ‘At twenty nine … I’d take it out’
Removing his earring is a sign of maturity or is it? ‘my own voice breaking like a tear’
His views on the earring change as he gets older ‘it comes as no surprise to hear my own voice breaking like a tear’

4. Language Use Use of conversational style ‘bloody queer’
Use of regular rhyme, a cheerful style as if it is a happy childlike story, like a children's song ‘queer….ear’, ‘head …led’
Use of description to add to the creation of the imagery (picture) in the poem ‘the hole became a sore, a wound & wept’ & ‘my own voice breaking like a tear, released like water’
Play on words/linking of related words to create an effect ‘bloody queer’ & above quotes
Effective last line – written in italics,
his fathers words are now his own & he knows now that his father was right!