1. Form
Free verse (lines of varying lengths / no regular rhyme scheme)
A single stanza
Ending = shaped (‘concrete poetry’)
Monologue by the working man – narrator does not speak at all. Comic effect.
Tense
Written in the present tense to give a sense of immediacy (happening right now)

2. Religious background: Good Friday
Friday before Easter Sunday.
Commemorates execution of Jesus by crucifixion.
Good Friday = day of mourning in church.
Special Good Friday services commemorate Jesus' suffering and death on the cross
In some countries:
Good Friday processions
re-enactments of the Crucifixion.

3. Religious Background: Easter Sunday
In Christianity Easter Sunday marks Jesus' resurrection.
After Friday crucifixion:
body was taken down from the cross
buried in a cave tomb
Tomb guarded by Roman Soldiers
Enormous stone put over the entrance, so no-one could steal body.
Sunday:
Mary Magdalene visited tomb
found stone had been moved
Jesus' body had gone.
Jesus himself seen for forty days afterwards by many of is followers
Known as ‘the Resurrection’.

4. Themes: Social class Social class and its relationship to education
Difference in status between “working man” and narrator
“the working man has nae education” (19/20)
“he’s jist bliddy ignorant” (22)
Being working class is something that he associates not with pride but with ignorance and lack of intellect
The narrator does not make the same judgement

5. Themes: Religion Title refers to religious holiday.
For certain members of society, Christian tradition does not play a significant part
For man enjoying a day off the religious significance of the day = relatively unimportant.
‘Working man’ puts this lack of knowledge down to ignorance.
1960s = move to increasingly secular society.

6. Title: Religious Allusion *
*Allusion = reference to something outside the poem (in this case religion)
Title establishes the religious theme. Good Friday is the name Christians give to the day on which Christ was crucified.

7. Three o’clock. The bus lurches round into the sun
Three o’clock. The bus lurches round into the sun. ‘D’s this go –‘ he flops beside me – 'right along Bath Street? - Oh tha's, tha's all right, see I've got to get some Easter eggs for the kiddies.
Subtle biblical reference – Christ died at 3pm
The sun shone after he died
Suggests physical clumsiness – slightly comical
Real, named location: poem = slice of reality
Glasgow dialect
Dashes (casesura) – rhythms of realistic speech
Drunk man = kind / human

8. I’ve had a wee drink, ye understand – ye’ll maybe think it’s a – funny day to be celebrating – well, no, but ye see I wasny working, and I like to celebrate when I’m no working – I don’t say it’s right
Dashes – also show working man is rambling – pauses where narrator could speak but does not (humour?).
Aware of what day it is – feels guilty
“see” x 4
“understand” x3
“say/saying” x2
“mean” x2
Word choice and repetition: the working man is desperate to be understood
Lines 6-10

9. I'm no saying it's right, ye understand - ye understand
I'm no saying it's right, ye understand - ye understand? But anyway tha’s the way I look at it – I’m no boring you, eh? – ye see today, take today, I don’t know what today’s in aid of, whether Christ was – crucified or was he –
Working man does not condone (defend) own behaviour
Does not want to be a boring drunk (comical because the narrator does not speak)
Confused – broken sentences (use of dashes)
Lines 11-15

10. rose fae the dead like, see what I mean
rose fae the dead like, see what I mean? You’re an educatit man, you can tell me – - Aye, well. There ye are. It’s been seen time and again, the working man has nae education, he jist canny – jist
Authentic dialect. Political: serious topic discussed in dialect
Contrast between narrator and w. man – class barrier perceived by w. man
W. man’s background = source of shame / sense of inferiority
Repetition / incoherence* (*making no sense) reveals w. man’s emotion – regrets his own lack of learning
Lines 16-20

11. hasny got it, know what I mean, he’s jist bliddy ignorant – Christ aye, bliddy ignorant. Well –' The bus brakes violently, he lunges for the stair, swings down – off, into the sun for his Easter eggs,
Repetition – reinforces w. man’s sense of certainty about his argument / conclusion
Brakes / lunges / swings = active verbs. Add a sense of movement / reality to the poem.
Rhyming couplet – humorous effect
Lines 21-25

12. on very nearly steady legs.
Layout gives visual impression of w. man getting off the bus unsteadily
Line 26