Kissing by Fleur Adcock

1. 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.

2. What are your reactions to these images? Do you have any age or gender bias in your opinions about relationships at different ages?

3. 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, Pretending to be looking at the waterlilies and what might be a nest of some kind, over there , which two who are clamped together mouth to mouth have forgotten about. Romantic Implies a wish for privacy or for a home Syntax helps to portray convoluted awkwardness of kissing in public – or of other witnessing displays of affection. End stop line Like resuscitation

4. 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. Syntax helps to portray convoluted awkwardness of kissing in public. Selfishness and obliviousness to others. Time is unimportant to the young; caught in moment; unaware of time. Voyeuristic - a fascinated observer

5. The young couple’s moment is shared by the older couple; the young are not the only ones in love (2nd stanza is about the old) Public displays not needed to justify affection More private, suggests affluence. Seeing’s not everything. As this very moment the middle-aged are kissing in the back of taxis, on the way to airportsand stations. Their mouth and tongues Implies jet-setting/ cosmopolitan life Sensual

6. Juxtaposition of adjectives indicate more experience, age. Compared to when they were younger. are soft and powerful and as moistas 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

7. 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. Conditional tense – nothing is definite. Also, they can look forward to their future together; just like the young. Discourse marker influences sense of conversational dialogue Attraction not dependent on physicality. Compare to poems which explore relationships at different ages Conditional tense: to indicate what would happen in the future.

8. PEEEPoint Evidence Explain Expand How does the poet use the idea of kissing to explore the nature of relationships at different ages?

9. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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? What other poems consider the relationship between LOVE and TIME.